The Health Law Ticker

On September 29, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 890 into law, launching significant changes to the scope of practice for Nurse Practitioners (“NPs”) over the next few years.

Changes to Scope of Practice Effective in 2021

Effective January 1, 2021, NPs who meet certain education and training requirements will be able to perform certain functions without standardized procedures in specified healthcare settings where one or more physicians practice with the NP, such as a clinic, acute care hospital, state hospital, medical group practice and other ...

Faced with an ongoing public health emergency that threatens to overload healthcare systems, many states, including California, have developed or revisited their crisis care guidelines to address a potential COVID-19 patient surge. Many of these provide a framework, guided by ethical principles and a commitment to treating patients with equity, for hospitals, county health departments and healthcare providers to plan for the potential allocation of critical care resources (such as ventilators) should they become scarce.

The California Department of Public Health ...

On October 24, 2018, Congress passed the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (the “SUPPORT Act”), two sections of which constitute the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (“EKRA”). EKRA was codified at 18 U.S.C. § 220.

Similar to the Anti-Kickback Statute, EKRA was enacted to address abusive payment arrangements but intended for the context of opioid epidemic treatment and recovery efforts. Specifically, EKRA prohibits the knowing and willful (1) solicitation or receipt of ...

On March 28, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that the agency would provide relief to Medicare providers and suppliers by expanding the Accelerated and Advance Payment Program for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.  According to CMS’ guidance, to qualify for accelerated or advance payments, the provider or supplier must:

• Have billed Medicare for claims within the prior 180 days
• Not be in bankruptcy
• Not be under active medical review or program integrity investigation
• Not have any outstanding delinquent Medicare ...

The start-up segment of our healthcare regulatory practice is focused on companies bringing digital health tools to market. As part of the efforts of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA” or the “agency”) to clarify its regulatory stance on digital health tools, the agency released a revised guidance in 2019 entitled, Policy for Device Software Functions and Mobile Medical Applications - Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff (the “Guidance”) ...