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On September 9, 2021 President Biden announced a COVID-19 Action Plan entitled “Path out of the Pandemic” (the “Plan”) which comprises a six-pronged national strategy aimed at combatting COVID-19. The Plan includes a number of important provisions related to health care, including implementation of COVID-19 vaccine requirements and an expansion of resources available for treatment of COVID-19. The Plan signals significant changes upcoming for health care organizations, their employees, and their patients.

The following summary addresses certain parts of the Plan with specific implications for health care, but please continue to check R+C blogs and legal updates for follow-up analysis of the specific guidance and rules that are released in furtherance of the Plan.…
Continue Reading Biden COVID-19 Action Plan Expands Vaccine Mandates, Testing, and Treatment to Combat Spread of Virus

On August 19, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont issued Executive Order No. 13C (the “Order”) to expand access to COVID-19 vaccination information for patients and providers (and school nurses) as public health authorities continue to promote vaccination efforts, implement recommendations for vaccine booster shots, and as schools adopt COVID-19 control measures for returning students and…

On July 7, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act 21-129 entitled “An Act Concerning Hospital Billing and Collection Efforts By Hospitals And Collection Agencies” (“the Act”). The Act expands the types of entities to which billing and collection restrictions apply, places further limitations on collection efforts by such entities, and makes several changes to Connecticut’s existing laws concerning facility fees.…
Continue Reading Connecticut Governor Signs Bill Limiting Hospital Billing and Collection Efforts and Revising Connecticut’s Facility Fee Laws

On June 16, and then on July 6, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law a pair of bills that together address privacy and cybersecurity in the state. As cybersecurity risks continue to pose a significant threat to businesses and the integrity of private information, Connecticut joins other states in revisiting its data breach reporting laws to strengthen reporting requirements, and offer protection to businesses that have been the subject of a breach despite implementing cybersecurity safeguards from certain damages in resulting litigation.

Public Act 21-59 “An Act Concerning Data Privacy Breaches” (PA 21-59) modifies Connecticut law addressing data privacy breaches to expand the types of information that are protected in the event of a breach, to shorten the timeframe for reporting a breach, to clarify applicability of the law to anyone who owns, licenses, or maintains computerized data that includes “personal information,” and to create an exception for entities that report breaches in accordance with HIPAA. Public Act 21-119 “An Act Incentivizing the Adoption of Cybersecurity Standards for Businesses” (PA 21-119) correspondingly establishes statutory protection from punitive damages in a tort action alleging that inadequate cybersecurity controls resulted in a data breach against an entity covered by the law if the entity maintained a written cybersecurity program conforming to industry standards (as set forth in PA 21-119).

Both laws take effect October 1, 2021. …
Continue Reading Connecticut Enacts Legislation to Incentivize Adoption of Cybersecurity Safeguards and Expand Breach Reporting Obligations

On March 14, 2021, Connecticut Governor Lamont issued Executive Order 10C (EO 10C), which extends provisions of Public Act 20-2 (PA 20-2), a law passed by the Connecticut legislature in July 2020 that “provided additional flexibility for the delivery of telehealth services and insurance coverage of these services” but was scheduled to expire March 15, 2021. As a result of EO 10C, the provisions of PA 20-2 that were scheduled to expire on March 15 will remain in effect through April 20, 2021, in part to give the state legislature more time to “address the ongoing need for” expanded access to telehealth services.…
Continue Reading Connecticut Extends Expansion of Access to Telehealth Services

On January 28, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Fifth Amendment to HHS’s Declaration under the Public Health Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) that provides liability immunity to certain individuals and entities arising from the manufacturing, distribution, administration or use of medical countermeasures (e.g., therapeutics and vaccines) against COVID-19.…
Continue Reading COVID-19 Vaccine Update: HHS Expands Pool of Eligible Vaccinators under PREP Act

On December 7, 2020, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed Executive Order No. 9Q (the “Order”) in anticipation of the approval of COVID-19 vaccines. The Order addresses and expands COVID-19 vaccine administration, establishes flu vaccine reporting requirements for pharmacists, and limits out-of-network charges for administration of authorized COVID-19 vaccines. Specifically, the Order:…
Continue Reading In Anticipation of COVID-19 Vaccine Approval, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont Issues Executive Order To Facilitate Vaccine Administration and Reporting

On November 30 and December 2, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) published two final rules (available here: November 30 Final Rule and December 2 Final Rule) which modify the safe harbor regulations to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and codify a new exception to the Civil…

On November 20, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published its long-awaited and highly anticipated final rule updating regulations promulgated under the Physician Self-Referral or “Stark” law (the OIG simultaneously published updates to the Anti-Kickback Statute regulations). Among other things, CMS introduced new Stark exceptions for certain “value-based arrangements,” the donation…

On November 3, 2020, a Massachusetts Federal District Court issued a notable decision on the applicability of the state’s medical peer review privilege in a federal proceeding, determining that the privilege does not apply to documents requested in discovery as part of a qui tam False Claims Act (FCA) case. In United States ex rel. Wollman v. Massachusetts General Hospital, Inc. et al., Case Number 1:15-cv-11890-ADB, the court reviewed the purpose of the peer review privilege and precedent addressing the applicability of state privileges under the Federal Rules of Evidence, and concluded that the privilege should not apply because the “goal of the peer review privilege would not be thwarted if it was not applied” in a case predicated on alleged billing fraud. The court’s decision is instructive for health care providers and whistleblowers in connection with discovery and the applicability of medical peer review privileges to FCA cases.…
Continue Reading Massachusetts Federal Court Declines to Apply State Medical Peer Review Privilege in Federal Whistleblower Case