Speaking Engagements
“Strategies on Navigating IDRs, IIDRs, and ALJ Appeals” - American Health Care Association (October 2024)
“Medicare Secondary Payer and Section 111 Reporting: What it is and Why it Matters” - The Beacon Institute, Lifespan Network (October 2024)
“Boilerplate Breakdown: Understanding The Fine Print in Services Contracts” – LifeSpan 2024 Annual Conference & Expo (September 2024)
“Discharge Disruption: Breaking Down Virginia’s Anticipated Updates to ALF Discharge Regulations” – VHCA 2024 Annual Convention & Trade Show (September 2024)
“Fighting to Win at IDR and Beyond” - The Beacon Institute, Lifespan Network (August 2024)
“Litigation Avoidance Strategies” - The Beacon Institute, Lifespan Network (August 2024)
“Contracts Crash Course: Compliance and Strategy in Clinical Services Agreements” - The Beacon Institute, Lifespan Network (September 2023)
“Making Sales, Not Fails: Legal Considerations in Marketing and Communications” - LeadingAge Virginia (September 2023)
"Fine Print, Big Implications: How to Think Like a Lawyer in Reviewing Clinical Services Contracts" – The Beacon Institute, LifeSpan Network (January 2023)
"Key Compliance Considerations in Contracts with Outside Providers and Professionals”– The Beacon Institute, LifeSpan Network (September 2022)
“The Ins and Outs of Telehealth in a Post-Pandemic World”– The Beacon Institute, LifeSpan Network (September 2022)
“Appealing the Bad Survey Result”– American Health Care Association (October 2021)
"Litigation Avoidance Strategies in Post-Acute Care Settings”– American Health Care Association (October 2021)
“You’ve Got Mail: Various Communications form Government Agencies and How to Respond to Them”– The Beacon Institute, LifeSpan Network (September 2020, 2021)
"Cannabis Update: Medical and Recreational Use in Maryland and Ramifications for Long Term Care"– The Beacon Institute, Lifespan Network (April 2021)
"Best Legal Practices for ALF Licensure Inspection Preparation and Response"– Virginia Health Care Association / VCAL (April 2021)
"Raining on the Parade: Strategies When Nursing Home Residents Don’t Pay for Their Stay” – American Health Law Association, Long Term Care and the Law 2021 Conference (March 2021)
"Telehealth and Long-Term Care in the COVID-19 Era”– The Beacon Institute, LifeSpan Network (August 2020)
"COVID-19 Blanket Waivers: Where We Are, Where We Are Headed, and What this Means for You" – Virginia Health Care Association / VCAL (June 2020)
"Forging the Shield: Legal Considerations for Managing Abusive Residents in Skilled Nursing Facilities" – The Beacon Institute, LifeSpan Network (March 2020)
"The Rules and Reasoning Behind the IDR Process” – Virginia Health Care Association / VCAL (January 2020)
"Self - Reporting Guidance for Nursing Centers: Ensuring Compliance While Avoiding Risk" – Virginia Health Care Association / VCAL (September 2019)
"Legal Solutions to Common Long-Term Care Medicaid Problems: Accessing Documents, Filing Appeals, and Other Useful Tips to Ensuring Approval of Medicaid Cases”– The Beacon Institute, LifeSpan Network (February 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
ARTICLES
March 19, 2025
On February 20, 2025, Virginia’s General Assembly voted to pass Virginia House Bill 2094, the “High-Risk Artificial Intelligence Developer and Deployer Act” (the “Act”). The Act is currently awaiting Governor Glenn Youngkin’s signature. If enacted, this legislation would become effective on July 1, 2026, and would be only the second of its kind among states thus far, second to Colorado. The Act aims to protect “consumers” from “algorithmic discrimination,” described as the “use of an artificial intelligence system that results in an unlawful differential treatment or impact that disfavors an individual or group of individuals on the basis of actual or perceived age, color, disability, ethnicity,” or other protected characteristics.
March 17, 2025
On March 15, 2025, President Trump signed into law a continuing resolution to fund the United States government for another six months, through September 30, 2025 (the “Continuing Resolution”). The Continuing Resolution includes extensions of applicable Medicare telehealth flexibilities through September 30 as well. Industry advocates continue to push lawmakers for a permanent extension of these flexibilities to help facilitate access to care for patients.
March 11, 2025
On March 10, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”)
announced a further delay in the implementation of proposed updates to its Guidance to Surveyors for Long-Term Care Facilities under Appendix PP of the CMS State Operations Manual (the “Guidance”). The March 10, 2025, announcement delays the implementation of updates to the Guidance until April 28, 2025. Proposed updates to the Guidance, originally issued on November 18, 2024 (with a proposed effective date of February 24, 2025), were the subject of a January 16, 2025, delay that pushed back the effective date to March 24, 2025. In its January 16, 2025 announcement, CMS proposed further updates to the Guidance, including with respect to ensuring sufficient staffing to meet resident needs (F725), allowing a Director of Nursing to fulfill the requirement for maintaining a registered nurse onsite eight consecutive hours per day/seven days per week (F727) and requiring surveyors to review a facility’s recent Payroll Base Journal data prior to survey (F851). Under the March 10, 2025, announcement, CMS maintained the same updates issued January 16, 2025, only making changes to the form documents attached to Appendix PP, to be used as part of the facility survey process.
January 27, 2025
On November 20, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) released its
Nursing Facility Industry Segment-Specific Compliance Program Guidance (the “Nursing Facility ICPG”). The Nursing Facility ICPG provides analyses, discussion, and recommendations relating to compliance considerations for nursing facilities and supplements similar OIG guidance from
2000 and
2008. The Nursing Facility ICPG improves upon prior guidance by setting forth recommendations in a “user-friendly” format, with a discussion of more recent areas of focus for compliance (e.g., infection control, alternative Medicare reimbursement programs, etc.).
January 22, 2025
On January 16, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced
revisions to its proposed updates to Appendix PP of the CMS State Operations Manual, originally released on November 18, 2024 (the “Guidance”). Significantly, the revised Guidance delays the effective date for changes to Appendix PP by one month, to March 24, 2025.
January 13, 2025
On December 20, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) released a report (the “Report”) concerning purported failures on the part of skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”) to properly disclose or account for “related-party costs” within their annual Medicare costs reports. The Report, entitled, “
Some Selected Skilled Nursing Facilities Did Not Comply With Medicare Requirements for Reporting Related-Party Costs,” references an audit that examined how facilities reported costs among facility service providers. With respect to such service providers, the OIG found that, of fourteen facilities audited, three failed to disclose related-party relationships and seven failed to properly adjust for related-party costs in their Medicare cost reports.
January 9, 2025
On January 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) published a proposed rule entitled, “
HIPAA Security Rule to Strengthen the Cybersecurity of Electronic Health Regulation” (the “Proposed Rule”). The Proposed Rule aims to address extensive developments in the management, transmission, and protection of electronic protected health information (“ePHI”) that have arisen since the latest revisions to applicable HIPAA regulations in 2013. Such developments include the expansion of threats to the confidentiality, accessibility, and integrity of ePHI, including evolutions in malware, ransomware, social engineering scams, and other threats, as well as the increase in mobile devices that access and store ePHI, expanded use of remote/mobile workstations, and greater reliance on electronic and cloud-based data systems.
January 6, 2025
The Biden administration has signaled an intention to move ahead with publishing new, proposed requirements for Medicare/Medicaid-participating healthcare providers and suppliers in connection with emergency planning. However, with the upcoming change in presidential administrations, it is unclear whether, when, and to what extent any such updates may, in fact, be forthcoming.
December 30, 2024
With the end of 2024 and an expiration of applicable Medicare telehealth flexibilities approaching, Congress passed the
American Relief Act of 2025, preserving applicable flexibilities for an additional three months, through March 31, 2025. This is a step back from the extension envisioned under a prior version of the same legislation, which would have extended flexibilities through the end of 2026. However, the legislation will help facilitate some relief from the impending coverage gap that may have resulted from failure to pass legislation extending the expiration of existing telehealth flexibilities beyond December 31, 2024.
