The Texas Health & Safety Code specifically provides that records, information, or reports of or provided by a compliance officer of a public hospital, hospital district, or hospital authority are not subject to disclosure under the open records provisions of the Texas Government Code.

On July 20, 2004, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced legislation that would give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") additional oversight authority over the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations ("JCAHO").

On May 25, 2004, a Sacramento Superior Court Judge upheld a California Department of Health Services ("DHS") nurse staffing regulation that requires hospitals to reassign patients to a different nurse anytime their assigned nurse takes a break.

On March 12, 2004, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") announced that it will accept service area expansion applications that are submitted on or before September 1, 2006 from Section 1876 cost contractors. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act (the "MMA"), which created the Medicare Advantage ("MA") program, amended Section 1876(h)(5) of the Social Security Act to allow CMS to extend or renew all reasonable cost contracts beyond the previous limit

On Friday, March 19, 2004, CMS issued its awaited guidance on the specialty hospital moratorium included in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (the "MMA"). The MMA imposes an 18-month moratorium on the Stark Law whole hospital exception for physician self-referrals to "new" specialty hospitals.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") and the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") plan to sign an agreement to ensure that Medicare reimbursement is available by the time new FDA-approved drugs and devices enter the market. Lester Crawford, acting commissioner of the FDA, has indicated that he and CMS Administrator Mark McClellan want to sign a formal agreement to create a more efficient and predictable process for coordinating FDA approvals with Medicare reimbursement.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied the defendant's motion to dismiss in the case styled U.S. ex rel. Drescher v. Highmark, Inc. The Highmark case involves false claims allegations regarding the Medicare secondary payor rules.

In 1997, the 75th Texas Legislature enacted House Bill 1511, later codified at Texas Human Resources Code Section 32.0315, which changed the way the state reimburses teaching hospitals for their graduate medical education ("GME") costs under Medicaid.