Dinsmore health care partner Joseph Zielinski was published in the most recent edition of New Perspectives on Health Care Risk Management, Control and Governance, the publication of the Association of Health Care Internal Auditors. His article, "The Effectiveness of Your Compliance Program," covers how to effectively audit your organization's compliance program while gaining valuable insights. An excerpt is below ...
On June 10, 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress adopted the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law (the “Anti-Sanctions Law”) ...
The Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021 is being expedited through the legislative process. It will provide for extensions to a number of time limits, including for the passing of development plans. Importantly however it will also allow for extensions, or additional extensions, to existing planning permissions to allow projects be completed. Planning permissions have a fixed duration, usually five years ...
The draft Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations 2021 (‘Regulations’) have been laid before parliament and are due to come into effect on 1 October this year. The Pensions Minister announced on June 8 the final version of the Regulations which are designed to regulate how trustees of certain trust-based occupational schemes must engage with, and report on, climate change risk as part of their duties ...
New York State Lifts Restrictions. On June 7, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared that the State would lift most remaining COVID-19 restrictions when 70% of adult New Yorkers had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. On June 15, 2021, Governor Cuomo held a press conference to announce that New York had reached the 70% first-dose threshold ...
On June 7, 2021, the Department of Managed Health Care (“DMHC”) issued an All Plan Letter (APL-21-016) to the health care service plans it regulates, announcing that health care service plans must continue to cover certain COVID-19 testing for their enrollees beyond the now-expired DMHC’s emergency regulation[1] (“Emergency Regulation”) ...
The headline announcement of Freeports in the Chancellor’s Budget made it clear that they will have an important role in regeneration and supporting the delivery of the UK’s clean energy revolution ...
Last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for employers only in the health care sector in response to President Joe Biden’s January Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety. The ETS becomes effective on the date it is published in the Federal Register, which is yet to be determined. In addition, OSHA promulgated new non-binding guidance for employers in all other sectors ...
Many people have used their time at home to consider their health and well-being. Some have taken up exercise, yoga or getting a dog. Others have decided to find out more about their health in order to make healthier choices and use online portals like 23andMe (saliva test), Thriva (blood test) or Pharmacy2u (blood or urine test) to point them in the right direction ...
Workplace testing has proven to be a crucial piece in the UK government’s jigsaw to get British business back on its feet. But how can businesses implement a workplace testing programme and will the vaccine roll out make a difference? What is a lateral flow test? In March 2021, the government confirmed that almost 50,000 businesses had registered for free and regular lateral flow tests through the government funded workplace testing scheme ...
Haynes and Boone, LLP Counsel Raquel Alvarenga talked with HR Magazine about continued COVID-19-related accommodations for vaccinated employees.Below is an excerpt:Many businesses have developed policies on providing reasonable accommodations to employees who refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine for religious or disability-related reasons. Employers shouldn't forget that fully vaccinated workers may need accommodations, too.In recently updated guidance, the U.S ...
On May 14, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new final rule that will further delay the effective date of the Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology (MCIT) and Definition of Reasonable and Necessary Final Rule (the Final Rule) until no earlier than Dec. 15, 2021 ...
The rapid spread of Covid-19 has placed the healthcare system in Thailand under severe pressure. Following the outbreak of the pandemic, new startups focusing on telemedicine have sprung up to take on the challenge of innovating the way healthcare services can be provided to patients ...
The final phase of the Esterra Park development in Redmond, Washington, is a carbon-neutral development. Schwabe client JTM Construction is the general contractor for that project. As attorneys, we are interested in staying up to date on market trends, so we asked JTM to put together a panel to brief Schwabe’s Real Estate and Construction industry group on the carbon-neutral aspects of the project ...
Our latest article in the series looking at the impact of the pandemic on different groups focuses on how COVID-19 has affected those within ethnic minorities, what this has meant for the BLM movement and what employers can do to better support employees. Impact of COVID-19 The latest statistics all point to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected those within ethnic minorities ...
On May 28, 2021, Exempt Resolution No. 310, dated April 16, 2021 of the Ministry of the Environment was published in the Official Gazette. By means of such resolution, the Ministry of the Environment initiates the process of drafting the Supreme Decree that will set forth collection and recovery goals and other related obligations for batteries and electrical and electronic devices. Regulated priority products: "Batteries" and "Electrical and Electronic devices" ...
New measures for state contracting for economic reactivation. Through Decree 579 of 2021, issued on May 31 by the National Planning Department, certain transitory paragraphs enshrined in Decree 1082 of 2015 or the sole Regulatory Decree of the Administrative Planning Sector, were replaced in matters of state contracting ...
Introduction The Covid-19 vaccine is currently being rolled out, and according to the authorities’ vaccination-plan, a large part of the population will receive their first dose during the summer months. As a rule, one must take the vaccine in one’s own home municipality, and not in the municipality where one has a summer house etc. In addition, the authorities are working on a corona certificate ...
The ethical consumer market in the UK has increased four-fold since 1999, and now is conservatively estimated at over £40bn per annum. Consumers are actively changing their behaviours in favour of more sustainable and ethical choices. As a result, companies are increasingly creating or adapting their offerings to appeal to these consumer preferences ...
There is a growing consensus among business stakeholders and society at large that mere compliance with legal rules is not enough tolive up to the requirements of business integrity. Moreover, legal rules often use vague concepts and ethics are also useful to give concrete expression to the required practices ...
Legal due diligence processes are widely known in the context ofmergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate reorganisation projects. Their aim is to analyse the operations and organisation ofcompanies to identify their degree of compliance with applicable legal and contractual regulations, the level of risk of non-compliance, and the potential sources of legal and contractual liability ...
Decree-Law 36/2021, which amends Decree-Law 176/2006 of 30 August ("Medicines Statute"), was published on 19 May. The new Decree-Law introduces a ban on the advertising of discounts on the price of medicines subject to medical prescription that are reimbursed by the National Health Service ("NHS") or that contain narcotic or psychotropic substances ...
The world is in an upheaval now with the pandemic raging for over a year. The discussions and decisions that probably would never have been made a few years ago are being made today in the interest of the greater good and the public at large. When Bill Gates expressed his reservations against lifting IP protection on vaccine patents, it left the world reeling and his comments understandably criticised by experts and laymen alike ...
OSHA Adopts CDC Vaccine Guidance. On May 17, 2021, the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”) updated its online COVID-19 portal to announce that OSHA is revising its employer materials to reflect recent interim guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”). In the meantime, OSHA recommends that employers “refer to the CDC guidance for information on measures appropriate to protect fully vaccinated workers ...
The third wave of COVID-19 is now spreading all over Thailand. The rise in confirmed numbers of cases and deaths has been reported by the Centre for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (“CCSA”). In response to the outbreak, the Ministry of Public Health announced a vaccination plan which ultimately aims to reduce the spread of COVID-19 infections by having around 50 million people (roughly 70% of the population) in Thailand vaccinated by the end of the year ...
