On March 3, 2022, President Biden signed the long-titled Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. Seen as a result of the #MeToo movement, this fairly simple amendment to Title 9 of the United States Code prohibits private employers from mandating that employees submit to arbitration of sexual assault and sexual harassment claims ...
Dear valued clients, colleagues and friends,The increased reliance on cloud computing has recently seen regulatory responses from the authorities. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission on 15 October 2021 released an Advisory Notice on the upcoming licensing of cloud service providers from 1 January 2022, to address the regulatory loopholes brought about by the rise of cloud services and particularly the integrity of data stored on cloud ...
On January 12, 2024, and in compliance with Law No. 21,521 (the "Fintech Law"), the Financial Market Commission ("CMF") published General Rule No. 502, with the purpose of regulating the registration, authorization, and obligations of financial service providers under the Fintech Law (the "NCG 502"). The main subjects addressed by said norm are as follows: 1 ...
On April 18, 2023, the Financial Market Commission ("FMC") opened a public consultation process regarding the complementary activities that may be developed by bank or non-bank payment card operators ("Regulatory Proposal"), given the incorporation of new participants into the payments system, as a consequence of the implementation of the four-party model ...
The Financial Market Commission (Comisión para el Mercado Financiero or CMF) published on its website the document "Guidelines for a Law on Financial Conglomerates in Chile" in which, among other matters, analyzes the relevance of including financial conglomerates as part of the institutions under its supervision and proposes a legal framework ...
The Financial Market Commission ("CMF") published for public consultation the rule that will regulate investment advisory services in Chile, specifically the requirements and procedures for registration, cancellation and suspension in the Registry of Investment Advisors (the "Registry") and the obligations to which such advisors will be subject to, including the requirements regarding the disclosure of information. The CMF will receive comments until March 25, 2022 ...
On March 31, 2022, the Chilean Financial Market Commission ("CMF") published with immediate effect, the General Rule No. 468, which regulates the authorization process for commencement of operations of local General Fund Managers or "AGF" as they are known in Chile, and the minimum background information required by the authority for granting such authorization ("NCG 468") ...
On November 9, 2022, the Financial Market Commission (“CMF”) published General Instruction No. 2,325 which updates the regulations on the prevention of money laundering, financing of terrorism and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (“New Instruction”) applicable to: (i) banks (including their subsidiaries and support companies); (ii) savings and credit cooperatives; (iii) and payment card issuers ...
On Feb. 24, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the redesign of its Global and Professional Direct Contracting (GPDC) accountable care organization (ACO) into one that focuses on health equity. The redesigned model, Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH), was modified to reflect the Biden administration’s policy priorities as well as stakeholder feedback and participant experience ...
On March 23, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced updates to its survey process in response to COVID-19 (press release,press release, andmemo). Specifically, as authorized pursuant to section 1135(b)(5) of the Social Security Act, CMS is prioritizing certain surveys and exercising enforcement discretion for all certified provider and supplier types for the next three weeks ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced during a March 19, 2020 teleconference for physicians and teaching hospitals that it does not have the authority to postpone the statutory timeline for the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (Sunshine Act) ...
On April 8, 2021, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced a proposed rate increase of 1.3 percent for skilled nursing providers in fiscal year 2022. It is estimated this will result in approximately $444 million increase in payments to skilled nursing facilities (SNF) under Medicare Part A for the fiscal year. This increased payment rate does not incorporate the SNF Value-Based Program (VBP) reductions that CMS estimates to be $184 ...
Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it is rescinding the audit determinations for providers notified in January 2021 that had failed to qualify for the “mid-build” exception. CMS took this action due to questions raised by these providers regarding the audit process ...
In a letter to state Medicaid directors on Nov.13, 2018, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Alexander Azar, announced a new demonstration opportunity that will allow states to provide improved care for adults with a serious mental illness (SMI) and children with serious emotional disturbance (SED) ...
On Nov. 20, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued two final rules, which implement changes to the Physician-Self Referral Law (Stark Law) and the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) regulations (respectively the OIG Final Rule and the CMS Rule, collectively the Final Rules). This alert is a part of the Dinsmore Health Care practice group’s ongoing summary of the Final Rules ...
On March 23, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an FAQ on Medicare provider enrollment relief, noting several key changes aimed at streamlining and expediting provider enrollment in light of COVID-19. Physicians and non-physician practitioners may now enroll and receive temporary billing privileges without certain fingerprint-based criminal background checks and site visits ...
On Dec. 14, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unexpectedly issued a letter to U.S. Senator Ron Widen (D-OR)[1] indicating that CMS plans to use its “administrative authority to issue proposed rulemaking” addressing price concessions and direct and indirect remuneration (DIR) fees that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have increasingly charged to specialty and retail pharmacy providers in Medicare and other pharmacy benefit programs in recent years ...
On May 10, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its final rule, 42 CFR 403, requiring drug manufacturers to disclose the price of prescription drugs in direct to consumer (DTC) advertisements. Publication of the final rule was preceded by a lively comment period that commenced on October 18, 2018 ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has announced its proposed rules for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment (“OPPS”) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (“ASC”) Payment Systems, as well as its calendar year (CY) 2024 proposed Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”), (collectively the “Proposed Rules”) ...
On Jan. 8, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published an informational bulletin titled “Best Practices for Avoiding 340B Duplicate Discounts in Medicaid.”[1] The bulletin outlines seven regulatory strategies State Medicaid agencies may consider when developing policies for preventing the occurrence of duplicate discounts in Medicaid Fee-for-Services (FFS) and Medicaid Managed Care Organization (MCO) programs ...
In order to continue addressing the impacts of COVID-19 on nursing home residents, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a memo updating guidance for nursing home visitation. You can read the full memo here. Early in the pandemic, CMS implemented visitation restrictions to mitigate the risk of visitors introducing COVID-19 to nursing homes. Now, CMS is updating its guidance and allowing visitation for residents at all times ...
On Nov. 4, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) released a new Interim Final Rule (IFR) regarding staff vaccination at facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The IFR requires covered employers to ensure that staff receive their first dose no later than Dec. 5, 2021 and achieve full vaccination no later than Jan. 4, 2022. The vaccine rule that was also released on Nov ...
Just 24 hours after the President signed the CARES Act into law, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded the scope of its Accelerated and Advance Payment Program to include additional Part A providers and Part B suppliers. CMS outlined the program expansion in a fact sheet. The accelerated payments are intended to provide immediate cash flow relief to providers and suppliers focused on treating the flood of COVID patients ...
