On November 22, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the Medicare Advantage (MA) value-based insurance design (V-BID) demonstration project will be expanded in 2019 to an additional 15 states, and more options will be made available to participants.

On March 26, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a technical alert titled "Technical Alert: Group Health Plan (GHP) Reporting Change for Prescription Drug Coverage Information

On March 28, the Division of National Standards, at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) announced the launch of its Compliance Review Program to ensure compliance among covered entities

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule on Thursday, May 16, 2019 that provides, among other things

On September 25, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that requires acute-care and critical access hospitals to have an antibiotic stewardship program.

On June 2, 2017, the Survey and Certification Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a memorandum entitled "Requirement to Reduce Legionella Risk in Healthcare Facility Water Systems to Prevent Cases and Outbreaks of Legionnaires' Disease."

On December 21, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an updated Fact Sheet on the Medicare fee-for-service overpayment process.

On January 23, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published on its Medicare Learning Network a revised "MLN Matters Special Edition Article" covering implementation considerations ...

On October 4, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) announced the implementation of a statewide program that gives patients the ability to choose medical treatments for end-of-life care called Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST).

An August 21 article in Bloomberg BNA's Medical Devices Law & Industry Report and other publications, "Cyber Risks Mounting for Networked Medical Devices," discussed how recent cyberattacks that hit hospitals and pharmaceutical companies have spotlighted the risks of using medical devices that connect to the internet and transmit sensitive personal data.

September 8 article in Bloomberg BNA's Health IT Law & Industry Report and other publications, "Cybersecurity Costs Could Prompt Future Hospital Mergers," discussed the factors creating rising pressure on many smaller hospitals to merge or be acquired. Day Pitney's Eric Fader was quoted in the article.

In December 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) formalized its position on limiting the use of guidance documents issued by federal agencies to govern its prosecution decisions.

On the heels of the end of the comment period for input on reducing the regulatory burdens of the Physician Self-referral Law (also known as the "Stark Law") on August 24, the Department of Health and Human Services, ...

As part of the implementation of site-neutral rule contained in the final 2019 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rule, effective July 1, 2019,

The tool provides coding and coverage information and has a new feature which identifies the services that can be provided via telehealth.

On June 19, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule to update e-prescribing standards under Medicare Part D by adopting standards

The federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) recently released The Guide to Getting & Using Your Health Records to provide patients, or their caregivers, with information on how to obtain, check, and use their health records.

On June 6, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a request for information (ROI) for ideas on putting patients over paperwork and reducing the administrative burdens on healthcare providers.

According to a study published this month in Health Affairs, although the number of ACO contracts and the proportion of ACOs with multiple contracts have grown, the proportion bearing downside risk has only increased slightly.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on June 24, 2019, seeking, among other things, disclosure of hospital pricing for common tests and procedures.