Contact Us
Subscribe to this blog via RSS
Join us on LinkedInCategories
- Workplace Violence
- Assisted Living Facilities
- Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights
- Medical Residents
- EMTALA
- FDA
- Reproductive Rights
- Roe v. Wade
- SCOTUS
- Medical Spas
- medical billing
- No Surprises Act
- Mandatory vaccination policies
- Workplace health
- Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
- Code Enforcement
- Department of Labor ("DOL")
- Employment Law
- FFCRA
- CARES Act
- Nursing Home Reform Act
- Acute Care Beds
- Clinical Support
- Coronavirus
- COVID-19
- Emergency Medical Services
- Emergency Preparedness
- Families First Coronavirus Response Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”)
- KBML
- medication assisted therapy
- SB 150
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Legislative Developments
- Corporate
- United States Department of Justice ("DOJ")
- Employee Contracts
- Non-Compete Agreement
- Opioid Epidemic
- Sexual Harassment
- Health Resource and Services Administration
- Litigation
- Medical Malpractice
- House Bill 333
- Senate Bill 79
- Locum Tenens
- Physician Prescribing Authority
- Senate Bill 4
- Chronic Pain Management
- HIPAA
- Prescription Drugs
- "Two Midnights Rule"
- 340B Program
- EHR Systems
- Hospice
- ICD-10
- Kentucky minimum wage
- Minimum wage
- Primary Care Physicians ("PCPs")
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”)
- Uncategorized
- Affordable Insurance Exchanges
- Drug Screening
- Electronic Health Records (“EHR")
- Fraud
- Health Care Fraud
- HIPAA Risk Assessment
- KASPER
- Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
- Kentucky’s Department for Medicaid Services
- Mental Health Care
- Office for Civil Rights ("OCR")
- Physician Assistants
- Qui Tam
- Stark Laws
- Urinalysis
- Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”)
- Affordable Care Act
- Alternative Payment Models
- Anti-Kickback Statute
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”)
- Certificate of Need ("CON")
- Charitable Hospitals
- Compliance
- Data Breach
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI)
- False Claims Act
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (“FQHCs”)
- Fee for Service
- Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
- Health Professional Shortage Area ("HPSA")
- Hospitals
- HPSA
- HRSA
- Limited Services Clinics
- Medicaid
- Medical Staff By-Laws
- Medically Underserved Area ("MUA")
- Medicare
- Mid-Level Practitioners
- Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG)
- Part D
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”)
- Pharmacists
- Rural Health Centers (“RHCs”)
- Rural Health Clinic
- Telehealth
- American Telemedicine Association (“ATA”)
- Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
- Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (“HEAT”)
- Hydrocodone
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- Kentucky Pharmacists Association
- Qualified Health Care Centers (“FQHC”)
- Telemedicine
- Agreed Order
- APRNs
- Chain and Organization System (“PECOS”)
- Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California
- Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA")
- Emergency Rooms
- Enrollment
- Hinchy v. Walgreen Co.
- Jimmo v. Sebelius
- Maintenance Standard
- Overpayments
- Re-validation
- United States ex. Rel. Kane v. Continuum Health Partners
- Vitas Innovative Hospice Care
- Webinar
- 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”)
- 501(c)(3)
- All-Payer Claims Database ("APCD")
- Appeal
- Chiropractic services
- Chronic Care Management
- Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”)
- Compliance Officer
- Compounding
- CPR
- Dispenser
- Drug Quality and Security Act (“DQSA”)
- Essential Health Benefits
- HealthCare.gov
- House Bill 3204
- ICD-9
- Kentucky Senate Bill 7
- Kindred v. Cherolis
- Long-term care communities
- Medicare Part D
- Minors
- National Drug Code ("NDC")
- New England Compounding Center ("NECC")
- Ophthalmological services
- Outsourcing facility
- Physician Compare website
- Ping v. Beverly Enterprises
- Power of Attorney ("POA")
- Prescriber
- State Health Plan
- Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”)
- Texting
- "Plan of Correction"
- Affinity Health Plan
- Arbitration
- Audit
- Cadillac tax
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Community health needs assessment (“CHNA”)
- Condition of Participation ("CoP")
- Daycare centers
- Decertification
- Denied Claims
- Department of Medicaid Services’ (“DMS”)
- Division of Regulated Child Care
- Doe v. Guthrie Clinic
- EHR vendor
- Employer Group Health Plans
- Employer Mandate
- ERISA
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- False Billings
- Federation of State Medical Boards (“FSMB”)
- Food and Drug Administratio
- Form 4720
- Grace Period
- Health Professional Shortage Areas (“HPSA”)
- Health Reform
- Home Health Prospective Payment System
- Home Medical Equipment Providers
- Hospitalists
- Individual mandate
- Inpatient Care
- Intermediate Sanctions Agreement
- Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange
- Kentucky Medical Practice Act
- Kynect
- Licensed practical nurses (LPN)
- Licensure Requirements
- List of Excluded Individuals and Entities
- LLC v. Sutter
- Long-Term Care Providers ("LTC")
- Low-utilization payment adjustment ("LUPA")
- Meaningful use incentives
- Medicare Administrative Coordinators
- Medicare Benefit Policy Manual
- Medicare Shared Saving Program (MSSP)
- Mobile medical applications ("apps")
- Model Policy for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice (“Model Policy”)
- National Institutes of Health
- Network provider agreement
- Nonprofit hospitals
- Nonroutine medical supplies conversion factor (“NRS”)
- Nurse practitioners (NP)
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”)
- Part A
- Part B
- Patient Privacy
- Payors
- Personal Service Entities
- Physician Payments
- Physician Recruitment
- Physician shortages
- Provider Self Disclosure Protocol
- Qualified Health Plan ("QHP")
- Quality reporting
- Registered nurses (RN)
- Residency Programs
- Self-Disclosure Protocol
- Social Media
- Spousal coverage
- Statement of Deficiency ("SOD")
- Trade Association Group Coverage
- Upcoding
- UPS
- “Superuser”
- Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
- Autism/ASD
- Business Associate Agreements
- Business Associates
- Call Coverage
- Compliance Programs
- Critical Access Hospitals (“CAHs”)
- Essential Health Benefits (“EHBs”)
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA")
- Group Purchasing Organizations ("GPO")
- House Bill 104
- Kentucky House Bill 159
- Kentucky House Bill 217
- Kentucky Primary Care Centers (“PCCs”)
- Managed Care Organizations (“MCOs”)
- Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2012
- Patient Autonomy
- Personal Health Information
- Recovery Audit Contractors (“RAC”)
- Senate Bill 39
- Senate Finance Committee Report
- Small Business Health Options Program (“SHOP”)
- State Medicaid Expansion
- Abuse and Waste
- Center for Disease Control
- Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan programs (“CO-OPS”)
- Free Conference Committee Report
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
- House Bill 1
- House Bill 4
- Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
- Kentucky Health Care Co-Op
- Kentucky Health Cooperative (“KYHC”)
- Kentucky “Pill Mill Bill”
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”)
- Pain Management Facilities
- Sunshine Act
- Employee Agreement
- Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare Regulation
- Health Care Law
McBrayer Blogs
Does the Shutdown “Shut Down” Health Care?
The ongoing partial federal government shutdown that began on October 1, 2013, was initiated in an effort to defund the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Now, it seems that the shutdown is affecting everything but the ACA.
Despite glitches and technical setbacks, the Health Insurance Exchanges opened on schedule on October 1st. The ACA is largely funded through taxes and other funding sources that will continue despite the shutdown. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has mandatory funding (funding exempt from annual appropriations) which allows it to continue to operate its Federally-Facilitated Marketplaces.
CMS will continue almost all of its ACA-related activities, but that does not mean that everything will be ‘business as usual’. CMS has directed state survey agencies to restrict complaint investigations to only those involving immediate harm to individuals. Medicare recertification surveys, revisits that are not required to prevent termination of Medicare participation, MDS and OASIS activities, informal dispute resolutions, and improvement projects funded by the civil monetary penalty fund have all been suspended.
The Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General is continuing Medicare and Medicaid activities, but a large portion of other OIG activities have temporarily ceased. Numerous HHS activities are no longer running, including most new National Institutes of Health admissions, Food and Drug Administration inspections, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annual influenza program. Federal rulemaking is at a standstill, which means that finalized rules and implementation will be delayed for various regulations.
The ACA has arrived, and despite the efforts of many Republicans in Congress, it is not going anywhere any time soon. The other programs and activities that have been caught in the crosshairs of the shutdown are the real losers in this no-win situation.
Services may be performed by others.
This article does not constitute legal advice.
