Member Articles

The U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) recently issued a Final Determination concluding that certain dental implants imported by Instradent USA, Inc. and by JJGC Industria e Comercio de Materiais Dentarios S/A of Brazil (“Respondents”) infringe U.S. Patent Numbers 8,714,977 and 8,764,443 and should be blocked from entry into the United States ...

Following up on the passage of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a proposed rule to replace the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) methodology which was repealed by MACRA. The proposed rule would implement the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) to replace SGR and establish incentives for participation in Advanced Alternative Payment Models (Advanced APMs) ...

  Last week, Waller co-hosted a roundtable discussion on interoperability with Brentwood Capital Advisors and were joined by healthcare IT companies, investors, providers and payors. Will Morrow, VP of HCA’s Health Insight Capital, and Hal Andrews, President of Healthcare for Digital Reasoning, kicked off the discussion with a case study on HCA’s work to achieve data interoperability and how HCA’s strategy led to its recent investment in Digital Reasoning ...

On March 1st, 2016, Supreme Decree N° 62 of the Ministry of Economy, introduced in 2006 (hereinafter, the “Decree 62”), that regulates capacity transfers among power generation companies entered into force, modifying the methodology used to calculate transfers.IntroductionThe Chilean electric system remunerates power generation companies for two products: energy and capacity ...

As the overall level of convergence between industries in the business world keeps increasing, it is only logical for the related legal aspects to follow suit every step of the way ...

Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, a case that many hoped would provide much-needed clarity on the viability of the implied certification theory of liability in False Claims Act cases. While the Court held the implied certification theory as a viable basis to impose liability, the ruling did little to provide the hoped-for clarity ...

In a unanimous decision rendered on May 16, 2016,1 the Québec Court of Appeal confirmed that the delivery of ophthalmic lenses purchased online from suppliers who are not members of the Ordre des optométristes (Order of Optometrists) (?Order?), or the Ordre des opticiens d?ordonnances (Order of Dispensing Opticians), does not violate the Optometry Act 2(?OA?) or, by necessary extension, the Dispensing Opticians Act ...

On May 10, 2016, the Québec Court of Appeal1 confirmed a Superior Court decision allowing an application for authorization of treatment and placement to a patient. The application had been brought by the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, commonly known as the Douglas, or the Douglas hospital ...

For the past several years, the healthcare industry has been targeted by union organizers hoping to add nurses, physical therapists and others to their ranks. In the first half of 2015, there were more than 150 union elections in the healthcare industry, with unions winning more than three-quarters of these elections ...

The United States Supreme Court declined yesterday to hear arguments in Home Care Association of America, et al. v. Weil, a case challenging the Department of Labor’s Final Rule that extended overtime and minimum wage protections to previously exempt home care workers ...

One of the liveliest parts of the recently held panel discussion organised by the Association for Sustainable Development and the Youth Forum of the European Movement, was revolving around Serbia's obligation to reach 27% of its total consumption of energy to be coming from renewable energy sources (RES) by year 2020 ...

The home health industry could see its profit margins shrink further as a result of proposed updates to the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this week. This is the fourth and final year of payment reductions mandated by the Affordable Care Act in response to perceived Medicare overpayments to home health agencies. Profit margins are estimated to average 17.2% for the home health industry, and $17 ...

Late last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule intended to prohibit hospitals operating certain off-campus provider-based departments (PBDs) from billing under the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS). In an effort to implement Section 603 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, CMS says the proposed rule will save about $500 million a year by refocusing payments on the patient rather than the clinical setting ...

The Health Care Arbitral Tribunal (Arbitral Tribunal) has pronounced a decision on a dispute between an independent medical specialist and a Medical Specialist Company (MSC) for the first time since the introduction of the comprehensive rates on 1 January 2015. Although neither party has terminated the existing (membership) agreement between them, the Arbitral Tribunal is of the opinion that termination of membership and deregistration of the specialist from the members' register are justified ...

With more than 6-months of delay, the Government of the Republic of Serbia finally adopted the following package of decrees setting out the new incentive scheme for green energy:Decree on the Power Purchase Agreement, ("PPA Decree");Decree on incentive measures for the production of electric energy from renewable energy sources and from high-efficiency cogeneration of electric energy and thermal energy (" View More