Historically, telehealth services were limited both in reimbursement and location. Most encounters took place for purposes of rural health treatment and in underserved areas as a way to get specialized treatment to patients in geographic locations where they would not otherwise have treatment options. The use of telehealth services has increased in recent years ...
Kudun and Partners represented Thammasat University with the preparation of the licensing agreement with Antitoxin GmbH, a German company founded in 1966 and specializes in the development of certified blood typing reagents for automated and manual applications ...
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 ...
On July 1, the Texas Supreme Court handed down an opinion that has the potential to impact any case where medical or health expenses are at issue. In the wake of the Court’s ruling, a plaintiff may not recover medical expenses for amounts that the plaintiff’s health providers bill but have no right to be paid. In addition, the Court held that such bills are inadmissible - including to show pain and suffering. Case Background and Issues Presented Haygood v ...
On September 25, 2015, the Texas Board of Pharmacy (“TBP”) issued proposed rules that will allow pharmacists to substitute interchangeable biological products for brand name drugs. Currently, Texas regulations only allow for the substitution of lower-priced, generically equivalent drugs instead of certain brand name drugs. In contrast, the proposed rules allow pharmacists to dispense interchangeable biological products ...
Governor Perry recently signed four bills into law designed to combat Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse. The bills are a mixed bag of enhanced enforcement capabilities for the state and a few new protections for healthcare providers. Most notably, the legislature made several changes to the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act (TMFPA), bringing the statute more in line with the federal False Claims Act. Changes to the Medicaid Fraud Laws On the enforcement side, S.B ...
Texas is increasingly a purple political state. The motto of the state's capital city implores its citizens to keep it weird.[1] Recent polling shows that Texans overwhelmingly support medical cannabis.[2] Every one of Texas' neighboring states has a real medical cannabis program ...
The 83rd Texas Legislature passed legislation to simplify the process by which physicians supervise and delegate to Physician Assistants (PAs) and Advance Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs). This article summarizes the rules recently adopted by the Texas Medical Board (TMB) to implement SB 406 (83R) ...
During the 2011 legislative session that just ended, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law a bill that allows rural hospitals to employ physicians, known as the “corporate practice of medicine,” despite the state’s long-standing ban on such practices. This legislation, along with similar recent legislation, signals that Texas might eventually do away with its ban on corporate employment of physicians altogether ...
Texas health care providers, health insurers and health clearinghouses face new mandates and increased penalties over the use of electronic health records (EHR) as a result of HB300, which was passed in the 2011 Texas legislative session and signed into law by Governor Rick Perry. The Texas legislation expands privacy rights of patients beyond that contained in federal HIPAA legislation ...
After convening for a special legislative session to address COVID-19 countermeasures, the Tennessee General Assembly passed sweeping legislation in the early hours of Saturday morning that limits the authority of public schools, local health departments, government entities, and private businesses to implement COVID-19 related restrictions ...
Tennessee healthcare providers now have a very different certificate of need (CON) law to consider when they plan new facilities or expand services. Tennessee's legislature and governor recently enacted the Health Services and Planning Act of 2021 (Public Chapter 557 or "the Act"), which became fully effective Oct. 1, 2021. The Act changes the substantive requirements for CON approval, as well as the application process to obtain a CON ...
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has signed into law the Tennessee COVID-19 Recovery Act which provides liability protection from claims related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Waller Government Relations team worked closely with the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry and various stakeholders in recent months to achieve passage of the Tennessee COVID-19 Recovery Act ...
The government has announced a series of measures to tackle ongoing shortages of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers and poultry workers in the UK. This includes relaxing immigration rules to offer over 10,000 temporary visas in the run up to Christmas. Brexit, the Coronavirus pandemic, tax changes and additional factors such as an ageing workforce have all contributed to a shortage of food processing workers and HGV drivers in the United Kingdom ...
AUTHORIZATION TO RENDER SERVICES The Secretary of Health and territorial entities will authorize, within a short period of time, and temporarily, health service providers who are registered in the REPS to: Temporarily adapt a place not destined to render health services, inside or outside their facilities. Temporarily convert or adapt a health service to render another, for which the health service provider is not authorized for. Expand the capacity of an enabled service ...
On March 15, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, which was passed by Congress on March 8, 2022 (CAA). The CAA temporarily extends meaningful changes for reimbursement of Medicare services delivered via telehealth. All CAA provisions regarding telehealth amendments will last for 151 days following the expiration of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), which is currently set for April 16, 2022 ...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when hospitals have increasingly experienced a shortage of beds and medical staff to take care of patients, telepharmacy has emerged as one of the most effective ways to reduce the number of people visiting not only the hospitals themselves but also pharmacies and health clinics. Telepharmacy is the provision of pharmaceutical care to patients remotely by registered pharmacists and pharmacies using telecommunications ...
On April 10, 2015, the Texas Medical Board (“TMB”) voted in favor of adopting amendments to the rules governing telemedicine. The revised rules, which will significantly limit the ability to treat patients via telephone and video consultation, take effect June 3, 2015. TMB took its first steps to curb telemedicine in January 2015 by passing an emergency measure that prohibited prescribing drugs without an initial in-person visit ...
With many medical practices and healthcare practitioners moving to telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, questions abound on legal requirements, privacy, and the future of healthcare. Schwabe’s Healthcare team has taken a closer look at the legal issues surrounding the rise of telemedicine during the pandemic and the implications for our healthcare future in the four articles below ...
Introduction If 2020 has been defined by COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry in 2020 might be defined by a related single issue — telehealth. Those phenomena are obviously connected. While telehealth has been around in varying forms for years, COVID-19 accelerated its growth, use, and acceptance in unprecedented ways. With that growth comes changes. Reimbursement rules have evolved as telehealth has grown and become more accepted ...
Introduction If 2020 has been defined by COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry in 2020 might be defined by a related single issue — telehealth. Those phenomena are obviously connected. While telehealth has been around in varying forms for years, COVID-19 accelerated its growth, use, and acceptance in unprecedented ways. With that growth comes changes. Reimbursement rules have evolved as telehealth has grown and become more accepted ...
Law360 published an article this week by Dinsmore health care attorney LaTawnda Moore about an ongoing scheme made possible by the increasing prevalence of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. This scheme is putting telehealth executives and health care providers at risk of criminal and civil liability. An excerpt is below. The telehealth executives pay health care providers for prescriptions ...
In 2020, telehealth went from promising ancillary issue to center stage in the healthcare industry. Regulators and law enforcement took notice. With enforcers’ attention now squarely on telehealth fraud and abuse, telehealth providers and companies are poised to be among the main targets for civil and criminal enforcement in the coming years. Webinar Recording Key Takeaways Telehealth is a key enforcement priority for federal and state enforcement agencies, including the U ...
March 24, 2022 By: Andrea Musker The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, signed by President Biden on March 15, 2022, extends federal telehealth flexibilities beyond the expiration date of the public health emergency for a limited time. The public health emergency is currently set to expire on April 16, 2022, but it may be renewed for another ninety days ...
