The Biden administration’s decision to end the COVID-19 public health emergency in May will institute sweeping changes across the health care system that go far beyond many people having to pay more for COVID tests.

In response to the pandemic, the federal government in 2020 suspended many of its rules on how care is delivered. That transformed essentially every corner of American health care — from hospitals and nursing homes to public health and treatment for people recovering from addiction.

Now, as the government prepares to reverse some of those steps, here’s a glimpse at ways patients will be affected:

Training Rules for Nursing Home Staff Get Stricter

The end of the emergency means nursing [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI

Are you among the LEP? Likely not, because you’re reading this. But as someone in the healthcare sector, it’s an acronym you should not only know, but understand, particularly as it relates to health literacy and equity. LEP is Limited English Proficient, and the U.S. Census Bureau describes it as individuals over age 5 who report speaking English less than “very well”. It reports that number as over 25 million –  9% of the United States population in 2015, the year the report originates.

Flash forward to today in a heightened era of health literacy, DEI and social determinants of health and LEP takes on new significance. It’s [Read More]

By JESSE ADAM MARKOS, ESQ.
Wachler & Associates, P.C.

Pursuant to a plea agreement filed in federal court in Grand Rapids on April 6^th, the former chairman of Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Licensing Board, Rick Johnson, has admitted to accepting bribes while serving in his official capacity. Federal prosecutors allege that, over a two-year period, Johnson accepted cash payments and other benefits, such as private chartered flights, in excess of $100,000.00 in return for giving preferential treatment during the medical marijuana licensing process.

Michigan’s now-defunct Medical Marijuana Licensing Board was created by the Michigan Legislature in 2016 to issue licenses for various medical marijuana facilities.  It operated within the Michigan Department of Licensing and [Read More]

By ALEXANDRA CRANDALL

J-1 status is a favorite for foreign nationals attending medical resident training programs in the United States. While there are many advantages to the J-1 visa category, one major obstacle remains for J-1 physicians who wish to continue working in the United States—the home residence requirement.

Because the J-1 physician visa is considered an “exchange visitor visa,” foreign nationals who enter in that status must return to their home country for two years before being granted H/L non-immigrant status or permanent residency. This is a discouraging reality, particularly within an industry that desperately needs to retain the talent it works so hard to train. Luckily, there are four options [Read More]

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

Lucido Can’t Connect Dots On Nursing Home Deaths

In the midst of the back and forth between the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer administration and the then-GOP-controlled Legislature over COVID-19 nursing home deaths, the Macomb County prosecutor launched an investigation into that issue within his jurisdiction.

Pete Lucido went so far as to create a countywide protocol for residents reporting COVID-19-related deaths connected to involuntary transfers to nursing homes, potentially based on the Whitmer administration’s directives.

Lucido even asked each of the police departments in Macomb to gather whatever information they could on the issue.

The Governor’s office at the time issued a statement suggesting that the [Read More]

By LIZ SZABO

Diego never imagined he’d carry a gun.

Not as a child, when shots were fired outside his Chicago-area home. Not at age 12, when one of his friends was gunned down.

Diego’s mind changed at 14, when he and his friends were getting ready to walk to midnight Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. But instead of hymns, Diego heard gunfire, and then screaming. A gang member shot two people, including one of Diego’s friends, who was hit nine times.

“My friend was bleeding out,” said Diego, who asked KHN not to use his last name to protect his safety and privacy. As his friend lay on the ground, [Read More]

The state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will be restarting annual redeterminations for Medicaid recipients, and ending extra benefits for those on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to comply with what DHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel called a “COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Unwind.”

Hertel, who spoke before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, said the necessary unwind is a result of federal pandemic emergency assistance that was provided to SNAP beneficiaries and Medicaid recipients and is now ending.

She said additional SNAP assistance increased benefit levels to the maximum amount allowable per eligible group regardless of income, with an additional $95 for groups already receiving the maximum benefit. [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
With the President’s Emergency Declaration – Public Health Emergency related to COVID-19 slated to end on May 11, I have some observations to share on this and other matters that somehow feel related. My first observation is that I don’t want to see telehealth and its many benefits languish should government support ebb.

The pandemic didn’t launch telehealth, it was re-introduced after a years-long wobbly start where payers didn’t want to reimburse for it so providers didn’t want to offer it. Suddenly, in the early desperate days of the pandemic, telehealth was the rage, with unsecured channels like Facetime or Google Meet serving as makeshift portals for frightened patients [Read More]

By JENNIFER COLAGIOVANNI & CHRISTIAN IERACI, Wachler & Associates, P.C.

Michigan recently revised its Corporate Practice of Medicine laws to allow for multidisciplinary practices amongst physicians (licensed MDs and DOs), podiatrists, and chiropractors. Prior to 2022, Michigan’s Corporate Practice of Medicine laws prohibited chiropractors from forming professional corporations with physicians and podiatrists. As a result of these recent changes, chiropractors are now generally permitted to form professional corporations (PC) and professional limited liability companies (PLLC) with physicians and podiatrists without violating Michigan’s Corporate Practice of Medicine laws.

Corporate Practice of Medicine

In general, Corporate Practice of Medicine occurs when a corporate entity practices medicine, as opposed to an individual licensed practitioner. In [Read More]

By BILLEE WARD, ESQ.

As the year 2020 began, it would have been difficult for most Americans to imagine how life as we knew it at that time would change in the coming months and years. You likely recall generally, if not specifically, that on January 31, 2020, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) a Public Health Emergency (PHE) under Section 319 of the Public Health Services Act. Approximately six weeks later, by Proclamation 9994 on March 13, 2020, Former President Trump declared a National Emergency (NE) concerning COVID-19. These actions set the stage for a variety of measures being [Read More]