On Saturday, September 29th, President Bush signed into law a temporary funding extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), as well as a separate bill that will continue several health care programs that were set to expire on September 30th.

On December 21, President Bush signed into law the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act (H.R. 4440), which provides $8 billion in hurricane reconstruction and relief tax breaks for businesses and individuals. The new law also retroactively amended and clarified various S Corporation provisions contained in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.

On May 7, 2008, Governor Sonny Perdue signed Senate Bill 436 into law. Senate Bill 436 allows, among other things, for the bylaws of a publicly traded corporation incorporated under the laws of Georgia to set a director voting standard greater than the plurality standard contained in Georgia Code Section 14-2-728.

On November 16, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule to implement final eprescribingstandards for the Medicare Part D program

On May 7, 2008, Governor Sonny Perdue signed Senate Bill 436 into law. Senate Bill 436 allows, among other things, for the bylaws of a publicly traded corporation incorporated under the laws of Georgia to set a director voting standard greater than the plurality standard contained in Georgia Code Section 14-2-728.

On September 19, 2007, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule establishing "revisit user fees". These fees will be assessed against health care facilities participating in the Medicare program that, failing to meet federal standards relating to quality of care, are subject to follow-up inspections to ensure that the unsatisfactory conditions (deficiencies) were corrected. The fees went into effect on September 19, the day the rule was published.

On July 12, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule with respect to the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) for calendar year 2008.

Employers can file for new H-1B hires starting April 1, 2008. These petitions can only be filed for an H-1B start date of October 1, 2008 or later.

In R&R Capital, LLC v. Buck & Doe Run Valley Farms, LLC, CA No. 3803-CC (Del. Ch. Aug. 19, 2008), the Delaware Court of Chancery considered the enforceability of a provision in a limited liability company operating agreement whereby a member waived its right to seek judicial dissolution or the appointment of a receiver for the company.

A recent Delaware case, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International v. Jerney, is an important reminder of the care which should be taken by directors in considering bonuses that include payments to themselves.

A recent study conducted by researchers at the Duke Clinical Research Institute concluded that the pay-for-performance pilot program, which was launched by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2003, has not demonstrated a significant improvement in quality of care or outcomes in hospital patients with acute myocardial infarction.

The State Department has announced that it is ending the mail-in visa revalidation (renewal) option now available in the United States to certain visa applicants. The rationale for terminating this visa revalidation program in the U.S. is that the State Department lacks the capacity in the U.S. to acquire biometric identifiers (fingerprints) that all visas will be required to contain as of October 26, 2004.

Last year, H-1B visas became unavailable in August 2005, two months before the beginning of the next fiscal year. As a result, the H-1B visa could not be used for new professional hires during the 2005-2006 fiscal year beginning October 2005. Unless Congress takes some action with regard to this problem, the cap will be reached even sooner this year, extending the length of time that employers will not have access to H-1B visas.

On April 30, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on CMS oversight of Medicaid program financing entitled "Federal Oversight Initiative is Consistent with Medicaid Payment Principles but Needs Greater Transparency

In an 8 to 1 decision, the Court held that a patent licensee is not required to terminate its license agreement before filing an action declaring a patent invalid, unenforceable, or not infringed. This ruling enables patent licensees to challenge the validity of patents more easily and necessitates that patent holders negotiate new waiver provisions as part of their licensing agreements.

On July 13, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule on citizenship documentation requirements for Medicaid eligibility.

From the Supreme Court of Delaware last week comes an important reminder to all private companies that in the context of a merger or acquisition, the ability to protect a seller from post-closing fraud claims is limited.

There is a new predator in town – targeted at banks – and, if you think he can be ignored, you might be facing a lawsuit or a legal settlement. His modus operandi is to contact a bank, ask to be taken off of their telemarketing list, and demand a copy of the bank’s Do Not Call policy. It appears that he intentionally contacts banks that have never before called him, so the target often assumes that the request can be ignored.

On October 18, 2007, the House of Representatives failed to override a Presidential veto of legislation that would have reauthorized the State Children’s Health Insurance (SCHIP) program.

On July 16, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule regarding changes to the Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) for calendar year 2008.