On June 27, 2023, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 23-204, “An Act Concerning the State Budget for the Biennium Ending June 30, 2025, and Making Appropriations Therefor, and Provisions Related to Revenue and Other Items Implementing the State Budget” (the Act). Among other things, the Act includes provisions addressing hospitals’ obligations with regards to staffing, nurse overtime, and nurse scope of practice.
Employment Law
Connecticut Legislature Passes Law Limiting Physician, PA and APRN Non-Compete Agreements
On June 5, 2023, the Connecticut Legislature passed Public Act No. 23-97, “An Act Concerning Health and Wellness for Connecticut Residents” (“the Act”). Sections 13 through 15 of the Act make important changes to Connecticut law governing physician, physician assistant (PA), and advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) non-compete agreements. These changes are summarized below and scheduled to take effect July 1, 2023. Governor Lamont is expected to sign the Act but has not done so as of the date of this publication.…
New York Enacts Long Negotiated Budget Bill with Sweeping Implications for Health Care
By Danielle Tangorre, Leslie Levinson & Guest Contributor on
On May 2, 2023, legislators approved the $229 billion New York State FY 2023-2024 Budget Bill (“the Budget”), which was signed by Governor Hochul on May 3, 2023. Article VII of the Budget touches almost every aspect of the New York healthcare system, including home health, hospitals, laboratories, and reproductive health. It contains wide-ranging provisions that expand access to care, allow clinicians to provide more services, and allocate needed resources to providers. It targets Medicaid in multiple ways, including an extension of the Medicaid Global Cap on system-wide spending growth through FY 2025.[i] Here, we outline some of the key provisions that this Budget contains.…
Addressing COVID-Related Staffing Shortages: Strategies To Recruit And Retain Employees
By Yelena Greenberg & Guest Contributor on
Below is an excerpt of an article co-authored with Robinson+Cole Labor and Employment Group lawyer Sapna Jain and published in the April/May 2023 issue of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s (MBA) eJournal. Yelena and Sapna will also be presenting an informative MBA webinar on the same topic on May 10, 2023.
Health care staffing continues…
Kentucky Governor Signs Bill Aimed at Mitigating Healthcare Workforce Shortages: Beginning of a Trend?
By Erin Howard, Leslie Levinson & Guest Contributor on
On March 22, 2023, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed House Bill 200, referred to as the “Kentucky Healthcare Workforce Development Act” (“the Bill”), into law. The Bill was enacted in response to current healthcare workforce shortages. In an effort to mitigate these workforce shortages, the Bill allocates funds for health care training programs across a wide range of professions, including home health and nursing. The intent of this investment is to remove the financial barriers that discourage many potential students from seeking health care training, and to add new incentives for high-performing health care training programs. The Bill further adds a requirement that all public health care training programs review the cost of attendance against the earning potential of their graduates.…
Recent NLRB Decision Requires Union Access to Parts of Asset Purchase Agreement
By Natale Di Natale & Guest Contributor on
In a recent decision, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) determined that a hospital violated its duty to bargain when it failed to provide the union representing some of its workers with certain documents related to the sale of its parent organization. Specifically, in Crozer Chester Med. Ctr., 371 NLRB No. 129 (2022), the NLRB ordered the hospital to produce portions of an asset purchase agreement (APA) in response to the union’s request for information related to the transaction because the NLRB found these documents “potentially” relevant to the union’s role as bargaining representative of the unit.…
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New Jersey Governor Signs Act Concerning Changes in Control of Health Care Entities
By Leslie Levinson, Danielle Tangorre & Guest Contributor on
On August 18, 2022, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed S-315, “An Act concerning changes in control of health care entities” (the Act). The Act implements employment protection for healthcare workers when certain licensed health care facilities, staffing registries, and home care services in New Jersey undergo a change in ownership. The Act first requires that former health care entity employers provide the successor health care entity with information pertaining to employees (i.e., employee names, addresses, dates of hire, phone numbers, wage rates, employment classifications) not less than thirty days before a change in control. The Act also requires former health care entity owners to inform eligible employees of the rights provided by the Act and to post a notice of their rights under the Act in a conspicuous location.…
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Connecticut Prohibits No-Hire Provisions in Homemaker and Home Health Agency Contracts
By Yelena Greenberg on
As previously addressed on this blog, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont recently signed into law the state’s fiscal year 2023 budget (HB5506) (Act). Among other things, the Act prohibits homemaker-companion or home health agencies from contractually preventing their clients from hiring agency employees. The Act deems such “no-hire” clauses as against public policy.…
NOTICE TO PROVIDERS: CMS Phasing Out Certain COVID-19 Regulatory Waivers in Long-Term Care Facilities, Hospices, and ESRD Facilities
Certain COVID-19 emergency declaration blanket waivers are being phased out by the federal government, and health care providers should take steps to determine whether current arrangements are compliant. As background, in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency CMS previously enacted extensive temporary COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Health Care Providers. However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have now determined that various regulatory requirements must be restored in order to protect the health and safety of residents in long-term care facilities.…
CMS Passes Final Rule Reducing Regulations Burdensome on Health Care Providers
By Robinson+Cole's Health Law Group on
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is moving forward with its Patients over Paperwork initiative, which was created in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order directing federal agencies to reduce burdensome regulations in order to improve the patient and provider experience, and the health care system as a whole. On September 26, 2019, CMS passed the Omnibus Burden Reduction (Conditions of Participation) Final Rule (Final Rule), with the goal of removing CMS regulations that have become extraneous or burdensome on health care providers, allowing providers to increase and improve focus on patients. CMS estimates savings resulting from the Final Rule will be 4.4 million hours of time, and $800 million annually. The Final Rule was published on September 30, 2019, and goes into effect 60 days thereafter. Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), however, have six months to implement antibiotic stewardship programs and CAHs have eighteen months to implement Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) programs.
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