The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced Friday Friday that it had revised the Families First Response Act (FFCRA) in response to a recent ruling by a federal court in New York. The new regulations are effective September 16 and represent a significant change for healthcare entities who previously (and correctly) used “blanket” denials of FFCRA requests for all of their employees ...
“One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.” - Winston Churchill As responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have evolved over the course of the first quarter, you and your business have reacted swiftly to ensure the health and safety of your customers, partners and employees ...
The Federal Reserve System (the “Fed”) has recently announced programs intended to help businesses not covered by the loan provisions under the purview of the Small Business Administration, specifically PPP and EIDL loans available under the CARES Act. In order to facilitate lending to larger corporations, the Fed instituted the Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility (“PMCCF”) and the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (“SMCCF”) ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has touched all aspects of both the hemp and marijuana industries and their supply chains, as many other industries have experienced. To provide significant relief for the entire economy, the U.S. federal government passed The Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), collectively, the largest aid package ever passed ...
The use of telehealth skyrocketed during the COVID-19 public health emergency, as many regulatory barriers restricting its use were temporarily removed at the federal and state level and by private payors. Providers and patients adapted to the changes and are now relying on these flexibilities to deliver and receive high quality virtual care. This rapid expansion of the use of telehealth has ignited the need for permanent telehealth reform ...
It is official. The coronavirus is slowing down the sale of beer, or at least the issuance of beer permits. We are going to keep a running list of closures atLast Call. If you know of any that are not on our list, please email me here ...
As we continue to be bombarded daily with the relentless 24/7 news cycle regarding Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the reality is that healthcare employees are currently the most likely to be exposed to the disease in the United States. Accordingly, healthcare employers must start, or continue, to think about the various situations that may arise in the workplace and the multitude of laws that may apply ...
On March 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order providing conditional regulatory relief for certain publicly traded company filing obligations under the federal securities laws, as a result of the challenges created by the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) for certain companies that are required to provide information to trading markets, shareholders and the SEC ...
1. Has OSHA developed standards specifically with respect to COVID-19, or coronavirus? At this time, OSHA has not created specific OSHA standards for COVID-19. However, OSHA is carefully monitoring the situation. It has created a centralized website for employers to familiarize themselves with the disease, including its transmission and what can be done to protect employees ...
Soccer matches played to 100,000 empty seats. Marathons with 200 runners in silent streets. Business blocks deserted. Restaurants closed. Those areas hardest hit by coronavirus can look like something out of an apocalyptic movie. And now, just two months after the new type of virus was first identified in China, Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) has hit the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control, coronavirus has been found in over 80 countries and 13 U.S ...
President Trump today signed a continuing resolution that will fund the federal government until December 11, 2020. The continuing resolution (the “CR”) also grants relief to the providers and suppliers that were preparing to repay the Medicare accelerated or advance payments they received in response to the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Recently, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rescinded seven policy statements issued during 2020 that provided temporary relief for financial institutions in consumer financial markets including mortgages, credit reporting, credit cards and prepaid cards ...
Businesses who are covered by the CARES Act and who are planning to make large-scale layoffs this week might consider pressing pause. The Senate is presently debating the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act), originally introduced late on March 19, 2020 ...
The U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) have announced aplanto implement the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the Act) ...
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 ...
On April 19, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published guidance (the “CMS Guidance”) for reopening facilities to provide elective procedures or “non-emergent, non-COVID-19 healthcare ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services hasrecently announced an unprecedented “Hospitals Without Walls” program to aid in the fight against COVID-19. The goal of this program is to ensure that local hospitals and health systems have the capacity to handle a potential surge of COVID-19 patients through temporary expansion sites including other, non-affiliated healthcare providers and even unlicensed locations such as community centers and schools ...
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 April 6, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule in the Federal Register that, among other initiatives and changes to existing policy, allows certain inpatient hospital services to be provided “under arrangements” outside of the hospital. The “March 2020 IFC” is intended to give healthcare providers increased flexibility to respond to the public health emergency created by COVID-19 ...
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 ...
A new reimbursement model intended to address healthcare access and availability in rural communities was introduced by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center. The Community Health Access and Rural Transformation (CHART) Model will “provide up-front investments and predictable, capitated payments that pay for quality and patient outcomes,” according to CMS ...
On March 30th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a number of regulatory reforms aimed at giving healthcare providers more tools to combat COVID-19 ...
