Compliance with environmental regulations is challenging under the best of circumstances, but the COVID-19 crisis and measures taken in response add a new layer of complexity. The lack of a consistent message from elected officials and health officers, on the one hand, and from federal and state environmental regulators, on the other, creates a quandary for the business community ...
“With our nation’s health care providers on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19, dollars and cents shouldn’t be adding to their worries.” - CMS Administrator Seema Verma. During this Public Health Emergency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has expanded its accelerated and advanced payment program (“Program”) to all Medicare-enrolled providers and suppliers (“Providers”) ...
On March 31, seven Bay Area counties issued stricter shelter-in-place orders and extended their effectiveness to at least May 3 (collectively, the “Orders”). As of the morning of April 2, Napa County noted that it will be joining the other Bay Area counties. Solano County extended the effectiveness of its order, but declined to tighten restrictions ...
Not only are healthcare providers under attack in the daily battle against the coronavirus, criminal actors are quickly taking advantage of relaxed HIPAA enforcement and standards, teleworking and the general intensity of the situation to exploit patient and other confidential information ...
The federal banking agencies issued two interim final rules this week providing temporary relief to community banks that are deciding whether to opt in to the community bank leverage ratio (“CBLR”) framework. The interim final rules reflect the agencies’ actions to implement Section 4012 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which requires them to temporarily lower the CBLR to 8 percent (from 9 percent) ...
Impact of Supreme Court's order of March 23, 2020 A three-judge bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court (“the Court”) in the matter of Suo Moto Writ Petition (Civil) No. 3 / 2020 titled as,In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitationinitiated suo - moto proceedings on 23.03 ...
Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group, Kochhar & Co. Delhi Health and safety are everyone’s priority today as COVID-19’s unprecedented impact continues to grow each day. Needless to say, the outbreak of Covid-19 has left its impact on litigation and arbitration in various ways, ranging from an increased use of remote hearings to general court closures, depending on the countries and institutions concerned ...
What is known to exist but is not visible is surrounded by mystery. It excites the imagination and people spin yarns about it. Though that is not true when it comes to novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), the outbreak of which has been globally reported. COVID-19 has caused worldwide unprecedented disruptions to business operations; and the commercial turmoil continues ...
The new measures adopted by the European Commission Last Friday, the European Commission (“Commission”) has adopted an amendment to existing State aid rules to widen the perimeter of the national measures which can be authorized based on the exceptional legal framework to cope with the current crisis. a. In particular, the Commission considered the following measures:a. More support for research and development related to the current health crisis ...
We are facing the growing and exponential spread of COVID-19 and a state of emergency was recently declared in Portugal. As a result, it is important to assess what impact this situation may have on the ability of businesses to meet the obligations they have assumed under the contracts they have made. The current situation is generating tensions in contractual relationships between companies ...
On April 2, 2020, Governor Newson issued Executive Order N-42-20 ("Executive Order") in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This order restricts the ability of water service providers to shut off water to certain customers for non-payment. All Residential Water Service Providers Affected All water service providers providing residential water service, regardless of size, are affected by this Executive Order ...
In Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco, filed on March 17, 2020, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal voted 2-1 to affirm the dismissal of a property owner’s takings challenge against San Francisco’s “Expedited Conversion Program ...
On April 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a temporary rule regarding the implementation of the emergency paid sick leave and Expanded Family and Medical Leave (“EFMLA”) requirements established by the recently enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”). The DOL temporary rule covers significant ground in terms of delineating workers’ and employers’ rights and responsibilities under the FFCRA ...
The Novel Coronavirus continues to disrupt nearly every industry, including our own. In response to this and the various hardships and logistical headaches it has created, the SEC has issued certain exemptions affecting filing and delivery deadlines. For more information on this, see SEC Corona Virus Response. However, on April 2, the SEC announced that is not planning any similar actions regarding the implementation of Regulation Best Interest or Form CRS ...
This memorandum is intended to provide information on measures undertaken by the Icelandic government in response to disruption of businesses on account of the SARSCoV2 virus. The memo will be updated as the occasion arises. Status as on Tuesday 31 March 2020 On 31 March 2020, the Icelandic Parliament (Althingi) passed amendments to various laws in order to implement the government´s announced measures in response to COVID-19 ...
In times of emergency, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary") has authority to issue temporary waivers or modifications of certain Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and HIPAA requirements. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") has released a substantial number of waivers in response to the coronavirus national emergency ...
On March 17, 2020, the Trump administration announced an expansion of Medicare coverage for virtual health services. The Medicare expansion is intended to make medical offices more available to people who need to be seen in-person and to mitigate the spread of the novel Coronavirus. Medicare can now pay for office, hospital, and other visits furnished via virtual services across the country, including a patient’s place of residence, starting March 6, 2020 ...
Over the weekend, Governor Justice signed two new executive orders—Order 20-20 and Order 21-20—that further limit permissible activities in six West Virginia counties: Berkeley, Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Monongalia, and Morgan. Under these orders, outdoor activities are further restricted to a maximum of five people and essential business and operations are directed, to the maximum extent possible, to order their employees and contractors to work remotely ...
On March 30, 2020, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services ("Secretary") announced a blanket waiver ("Waiver") of sanctions for violations of Section 1877 of the Social Security Act, also known as the physician self-referral law or Stark law ("Stark Law") ...
Telehealth is not a new concept, but it has been accelerated to the forefront recently by government mandated social distancing. While all of the "stay-at-home" orders issued across the country to date have included exceptions that permit individuals to leave their homes to seek medical treatment, providers may feel an obligation to offer telehealth services to protect not only their patients, but also the provider's staff, and to support the national effort to "flatten the curve ...
The West Virginia Legislature adjourned its 60-day Regular Session sine die on March 7, 2020. By the time the clock struck midnight, 356 bills ultimately completed the legislative process and were sent to Governor Justice for his approval. Under the West Virginia Constitution, the Governor had until midnight on March 25, 2020 to take action on those bills. The Governor signed all but five of the bills passed during the regular session ...
With national governments scrambling to take measures in order to counter the Covid-19 pandemic, we are again confronted with the fact that a EU common policy in the healthcare field is quasi inexistent. This is equally so in respect of the pricing and reimbursement of medicines ...
On Monday, April 6, 2020, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Call to Action Portal, which allows businesses to help their bottom line while also helping Pennsylvania fight back against COVID-19 ...
Many environmental impact reports and negative declarations will breeze through analyses of a development project’s impacts on cultural resources ...
