By KIMBERLY RUPPEL
New and modified safe harbors to the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback statue allow healthcare providers and entities more flexibility to create and expand telehealth platforms in compliant fashion.

On Nov. 20, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) finalized the rules modifying the safe harbors under the Anti-Kickback Statute and exceptions under the Stark Law, creating seven new safe harbors for value-based arrangements, modifying four already in place and codifying one new exception.

These changes offer opportunities for healthcare providers and entities to make better use of telehealth options in a “value-based enterprise” as opposed to the former regulatory framework [Read More]

Lansing Lines is presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

Nesbitt Calls On Gordon To Resign
Senate President Pro Tem Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) called on Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon to resign after extending by 12 days the three-week shutdown of restaurants, entertainment venues, in-person high school instruction, and youth sports.

Just as former Unemployment Insurance Agency director Steve Gray “recently resigned in shame,” Nesbitt said Gordon has overseen a state department that’s experiencing “bureaucratic disasters . . . directly linked to poor leadership.”

Nesbitt flagged Gordon for putting seniors at risk for contracting COVID by putting positive patients in nursing homes with a [Read More]

By VICTORIA KNIGHT & JULIE APPLEBY
In the waning days of the campaign, President Donald Trump complained repeatedly about how the United States tracks the number of people who have died from COVID-19, claiming, “This country and its reporting systems are just not doing it right.”

He went on to blame those reporting systems for inflating the number of deaths, pointing a finger at medical professionals, who he said benefit financially.

All that feeds into the swirling political doubts that surround the pandemic, and raises questions about how deaths are reported and tallied.

We asked experts to explain how it’s done and to discuss whether the current figure — an estimated 231,000 deaths since [Read More]

This story courtesy of MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

The state’s chief medical executive said Oct. 19 attacking COVID-19 via the herd immunity strategy without the aid of a vaccine “would be inhumane, irresponsible, and scientifically negligent.”

Dr. Joneigh Khaldun was before the Legislature’s Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic today and addressed the concept of herd immunity in her opening remarks.

She echoed what other medical experts have said in that to achieve herd immunity without the aid of a vaccine, 6 million more people in Michigan would need to be infected and roughly 30,000 more people would die as a result, which she called “unacceptable.”

“Let me also [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
A giant in Michigan’s healthcare community, an advocate for primary care physicians and physician organizations, and someone who has come to be a dear friend and mentor, is retiring—and I cannot let this milestone pass without lavishing praise. Dr. Tom Simmer, until Dec. 31, the Chief Medical Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, will not like this attention—but he certainly deserves it.

Tom advanced the goals and efforts of primary care in a brilliantly simple way: understand the role that physician organizations play in optimizing patient outcomes in primary care, then tap into their reach for population health for a greater patient impact. As population health became [Read More]

By JESSE MARKOS, ESQ
Wachler & Associates, PC

In today’s highly regulated health care environment, a criminal conviction of any kind (whether a felony or misdemeanor) can create significant problems for licensed health care providers. Criminal convictions always have the potential to have a serious impact on the lives of those convicted. However, a criminal conviction of any kind can have a disproportionately adverse impact on licensed health care providers.

Pursuant to the self-reporting requirements found in the Michigan Public Health Code, providers are required to report a criminal conviction to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (“LARA”) within 30 days of the conviction. The Public Health Code makes no [Read More]

Lansing Lines is presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

Trump Promises Vaccine Is Weeks Away During Waterford Rally
President Donald Trump promised to deliver a safe vaccine for the coronavirus “in just a number of weeks, a couple of weeks” during a rally at the Oakland County International Airport in Waterford Township Oct. 30.

He told the crowd of thousands the speed of creating the vaccine is the result of his “historic campaign to slash red tape and mobilize industry.”

Seniors will get the vaccine first, he said, then health care workers. But even without the vaccine, he contended the country is “still rounding the corner.”

“We have [Read More]

By CHRISTOPHER RYAN
Some areas of the law are black and white. In those cases, contractual provisions can often be easily labeled as permissible or impermissible, allowed or not allowed, reasonable or unreasonable. The enforceability of a provision prohibiting an employer from working in a competing business following their employment (a noncompetition provision) is not one of those areas of the law. The enforceability of noncompetition agreements between and employer and employee lives in the “gray” zone, and courts analyze the provision on a case by case basis. An enforceable noncompetition provision in one situation may not necessarily be enforceable in another. Unfortunately, the answer to whether a noncompetition agreement [Read More]

This story presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services largely reinstated aspects of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 emergency orders Oct. 5, including mask requirements, gathering size limitations, and bar restrictions.

With the Michigan Supreme Court majority invalidating Whitmer’s previous orders that rested on a law the court deemed unconstitutional, DHHS Director Robert Gordon said the order relies on a different law that wasn’t at issue in the case from Friday.

He said under MCL 333.2253, if the DHHS director determines that controlling an epidemic is necessary to protect the public health, he or she can prohibit public gatherings, among other [Read More]

By JONEL ALECCIA & LIZ SZABO
As trust in the Food and Drug Administration wavers, several states, including Michigan, have vowed to conduct independent reviews of any COVID-19 vaccine the federal agency authorizes.

But top health experts say such vetting may be misguided, even if it reflects a well-founded lack of confidence in the Trump administration — especially now that the FDA has held firm with rules that make a risky preelection vaccine release highly unlikely.

At least six states and the District of Columbia have indicated they intend to review the scientific data for any vaccine approved to fight COVID-19, with some citing concern over political interference by President Donald Trump and [Read More]