By Ilyse Schuman If the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate provision is deemed unconstitutional, which parts – if any – of the law can survive without it? That was the first question the Supreme Court considered during the third and final day of oral argument on the constitutionality of the health care law. Members… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Legislation and Regulations
Subscribe to Legislation and Regulations RSS FeedOFCCP Webinar on Pending Compliance Audits of TRICARE Participants Cancelled
By David Goldstein As discussed in our March 14 blog post, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) had scheduled a webinar for today on the Status of Pending Compliance Evaluations of Entities that Participate in TRICARE Networks. That webinar was cancelled today without prior notice or explanation. In response to inquiries about the change,… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of Individual Mandate
By Ilyse Schuman On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court presided over two hours of oral argument on the most publicized aspect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) under review: whether the individual mandate is constitutional. The minimum coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act provides that, beginning in 2014, non-exempted federal income taxpayers who fail… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Hears First Day of Argument in Affordable Care Act Challenge
By Ilyse Schuman Whether the controversial individual mandate contained in the new health care law can even be challenged at this time was the subject of debate during the first of three days of oral argument before the U.S. Supreme court on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) constitutionality. Under the individual responsibility provisions of the… Continue Reading
Federal and State Laws May Limit the Use of Healthcare Applicants’ Credit Reports
By Craig M. Brown and Alex Frondorf Hiring the wrong employee can be costly, particularly in a healthcare environment where theft, disclosure of personal health information, or workplace violence can have a devastating effect on patient care and a healthcare institution’s reputation. If an employee who engages in wrongdoing is later terminated and files a lawsuit, the… Continue Reading
Proposed Home Care Worker Rule Review Urged by Panelists, Lawmakers
On Tuesday members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections heard competing testimony about the merits of the Department of Labor’s proposed rule that would extend minimum wage and overtime requirements to many home care workers. This proposal would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) companionship and live-in… Continue Reading
Despite Congressional Action OFCCP Signals Intent to Continue Litigating TRICARE
By David Goldstein Confusion continues to reign regarding when hospitals and healthcare providers must comply with the affirmative action requirements applicable to government contractors. Indeed, even the one issue that appeared to be settled last year by Congressional action may remain a subject of controversy. As previously reported in this blog, under the Obama administration, the… Continue Reading
States Introduce Legislation on Flu Vaccinations for Healthcare Employees
By Ben Huggett While federal agencies, hospitals, and unions are debating the issue of mandatory flu vaccinations for healthcare workers, some state legislatures and regulators are also tackling the issue. On February 6, the New Jersey Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee reported favorably on Assembly Bill No. 2172, which would require healthcare facilities to provide… Continue Reading
House and Senate Overrule OFCCP on TRICARE Subcontractors
By Rob Wolff TRICARE is the federal government’s healthcare program for active duty and retired military members and their families. For many years, healthcare systems reasonably assumed that their subcontracts to provide services or benefits to federal employees under TRICARE would not invoke the jurisdiction of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), and thus… Continue Reading
Minimum Wage, Overtime Requirements Extended to In-Home Care Workers in DOL Proposed Rule
On December 15, 2011, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued its much-anticipated proposed rule that could make more than a million domestic caregivers eligible to receive minimum wage and overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). According to the WHD, the home healthcare industry has changed since the FLSA… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Health Care Cases
As expected, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review cases challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The Court accepted the appeals filed in three cases that question the validity of the healthcare reform law, and will hear more than five hours of arguments during the Court’s spring session. While the petitioners in… Continue Reading
New California Bill Lifts Hospital’s Obligations Beyond ADA
By Rob Wolff California’s Governor has just signed a bill (AB 1136) requiring hospitals in his state to implement a patient handling policy that includes “lift teams” trained in moving patients with appropriate equipment. Among other things, the law provides that “employer[s] shall maintain a safe patient handling policy at all times for all patient… Continue Reading
New Connecticut Law Targets Workplace Violence Risk to Healthcare Employers
By George O’Brien As discussed in a recent post on this blog, a number of states have enacted legislation to address the increased violence against healthcare employees. In Connecticut, a new statute requiring healthcare institutions to take a variety of actions to protect employees from workplace violence took effect on October 1, 2011. The law covers… Continue Reading
Senate Committee Defense Appropriations Bill Would Exempt TRICARE Network Providers from OFCCP Requirements
By Ilyse Schuman On June 21, 2011, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved (pdf) a draft of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (pdf) that would end efforts by the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) to extend federal affirmative action obligations to hospitals that participate in or accept… Continue Reading
Health Care Practitioner Dress Code Bill Proposed in New York
By George O’Brien New York is considering new laws that would require health care providers to wear short sleeve shirts and follow other hygienic dress practices while treating patients. Bills introduced in the New York Assembly and Senate would establish a “health care practitioner hygienic dress code council” for health care practitioners and the hospitals and… Continue Reading
Federal Bill Would Establish Minimum Nurse/Patient Ratios, Provide Whistleblower Protections
By George O’Brien In conjunction with National Nurses Week, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) reintroduced legislation on May 12 that would establish minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, require hospitals to implement nurse-to-patient staffing plans, and provide whistleblower protection for patients and hospital employees. The National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act (S. 992) is the latest in… Continue Reading
Nurse Staffing Bill Reintroduced in the House
Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) have reintroduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would require Medicare-participating hospitals to establish staffing plans for nursing services, provide certain whistleblower protections for employees and patients, and subject employers in violation of the bill to monetary penalties. Companion legislation to the bipartisan Registered… Continue Reading
Hospital Staffing Legislation Introduced in Congress Again This Term
On January 25, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) introduced in the Senate the “Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2011” (S. 58), which would require Medicare-participating hospitals to establish nurse staffing committees to develop hospital-wide staffing plans for nursing services. The bill is identical to bills introduced in both the House and the Senate last session, discussed… Continue Reading
Final Rules Issued Requiring Equal Visitation Rights for All Hospital Patients
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued the final rules prohibiting Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAH) from denying visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability, and protecting patients’ right to choose the visitors they want, including same-sex domestic… Continue Reading
California Expands List of Criminal Convictions Barring In-Home Caregivers
On Friday, October 8, 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a budget package that includes two bills, AB 1612 and SB 856, tightening the background check requirements and restricting individuals with certain violent felony convictions from working as caregivers in California’s In-Home Support Services (IHSS) program. Previously, California law prohibited individuals from working as IHSS caregivers if they had… Continue Reading
Agency’s Withdrawal of HIPAA Security Breach Notification Regulations Creates Uncertainty for Employers and Health Care Providers
In a two-paragraph press release recently posted on its website, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the withdrawal of its interim final regulations addressing security breach notification for breaches that involve protected health information (PHI) subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The interim final regulations… Continue Reading
Bill Would Apply Minimum Wage, Overtime to Home Care Workers
This week, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) introduced legislation that would extend the federal minimum wage and overtime protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to most home care workers, improve federal and state data collection and oversight with respect to the direct care workforce, and create a grant program to help states recruit and… Continue Reading
CMS Proposed Rule on Equal Visitation Rights
On June 28, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a Proposed Rule on Equal Visitation Rights (pdf) for patients in Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals, including critical access hospitals. As a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid, the proposed rule would require hospitals to… Continue Reading
Hospital Nurse Staffing Level Bill Proposed in Congress
The federal government and nurses’ unions have recently increased their focus on nurse-to-patient ratios and providing nurses – and nurses’ unions – with greater influence on nurse staffing levels. As reported in a previous post, earlier this month a federal agency used its website to advocate increasing hospital nurse-to-patient ratios. Nurses’ unions also have been… Continue Reading