Leslie M. Cumber

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published its proposed 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule on July 14. The agency’s announcement emphasized “significantly cutting spending waste, enhancing quality measures, and improving chronic disease management for people with Medicare.” While the fee schedule is still under review, and CMS is soliciting suggestions and public comment, health care providers should familiarize themselves with what CMS has proposed. Here are some key highlights. Enhancing Payment & Quality Measures: Revised Physician Payment Rates & Telehealth

As of Oct. 1, health care providers in Maryland must maintain patient medical records and laboratory and X-ray reports for at least seven years after the records and reports are created. The new law increases the record-retention requirement from five years. For a minor patient, records and reports must be maintained until the minor patient reaches the age of majority plus seven years, which for most patients will be when they are 25 years old. Health care providers, which include hospitals

The Miles & Stockbridge Health Care Practice Group hosted its inaugural Hot Topics in Health Care Law seminar last month for clients from Maryland and beyond. Miles & Stockbridge health care lawyers kicked off the seminar with a year in review, which covered topics including recent appellate cases and legislation impacting health care, consolidation in the health care market, the current state of Medicare telehealth rules, website tracking technologies and HIPAA breaches and enforcement. The seminar finished with an engaging panel

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Becerra v. Empire Health Foundation and resolved a split between the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the 6th, 9th and District of Columbia Circuits in favor of how the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) determines disproportionate share hospital (“DSH”) payments. The Medicare program accounts for the costs incurred by hospitals that serve a higher proportion of low-income patients by making DSH payments to those hospitals. The Medicare program calculates the DSH payment

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) jointly published final rules that expand upon and modify regulatory safe harbors and exceptions to the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act (the Stark law), respectively. This article will address each rule and focus on the exceptions and safe harbors applicable to value-based arrangements. Stark Law Final Rule: Value-Based Arrangements The Stark law prohibits physicians from referring patients to receive certain designated health services

On April 17, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an MLN Matters Special Edition Article with additional guidance for rural health clinics (RHCs) and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) during the COVID-19 public health emergency (COVID-19 PHE). The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which was signed into law on March 27, 2020, permits RHCs and FQHCs to furnish distant site telehealth services to Medicare beneficiaries during the COVID-19 PHE. Prior to the CARES

The Telehealth Services During Certain Emergency Periods Act of 2020 (the “Act”) is part of the larger bipartisan Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020.  The Act gives the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the authority to waive certain existing limitations on Medicare coverage and payment for telehealth services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries, making it easier for seniors to receive telehealth services from their homes and through the use of their smartphones. The Act