Home Health Agencies

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The New York Senate and Assembly recently passed Senate Bill S2844B to strengthen current laws for employees who are victims of wage theft to secure and collect unpaid wages from their employers for work already performed. This bill would amend five sections of the law (Lien Law; Labor Law; Attachment under the Civil Practice Law and Rules; the Business Corporations Law; and the Limited Liability Law). If signed by the Governor, this bill would create a broad right for any employee to obtain a lien on an employer’s property based on the allegation of a wage claim and would significantly increase employee power in such disputes.
Continue Reading New York Legislature Passes Bill Allowing Employees to Place a Lien on Employer’s Property for Wage Claims

On June 13, 2019, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act No. 19-19 “An Act Concerning Epinephrine Auto Injectors” (PA 19-19), which went into effect on the same date.

This legislation expands access to epinephrine, which can be lifesaving when treating anaphylactic allergic reactions. PA 19-19 permits “authorized entities” to acquire and maintain a supply of epinephrine cartridge injectors, subject to certain conditions. With a few exceptions, authorized entities are for-profit or nonprofit entities or organizations that employ at least one “person with training.”
Continue Reading Connecticut Enacts Law to Increase Access to Epinephrine Auto Injectors

On April 30, 2019, the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts (AG) announced that it had entered into two settlements totaling over $10 million with home health care companies to resolve allegations of submission of false claims to MassHealth – the Commonwealth’s Medicaid program. The AG entered into an $8.3 million settlement with Avenue Homecare Services of Dracut, and a $2.13 million settlement with Amigos Homecare of Lawrence, to resolve allegations that they billed MassHealth for unauthorized home health services.
Continue Reading Massachusetts Reaches $10 Million in Settlements Tied to Medicaid Billing for Home Health Services

On March 26, 2019, the New York Court of Appeals upheld the state Department of Labor’s (the DOL) so-called “13-hour rule” governing payment of home health care aides who work 24-hour shifts. In a closely-watched decision with significant ramifications for the state’s home health industry,  New York’s highest court reversed two 2017 appellate decisions that had overturned the DOL’s  rule and caused substantial uncertainty for home health providers throughout the state.  In short, the New York Court of Appeals confirmed that New York home health care aides may be paid for 13 hours of a 24-hour shift, as long as the aides are given eight hours of sleep time (with five of those being uninterrupted hours) and three hours of meal breaks.

As background, in New York home health aides who work 24-hour shifts have been treated as “live-in employees” for purposes of New York’s Minimum Wage Order regulation (the Wage Order). Under the DOL’s interpretation of the Wage Order, employers were not required to pay an aide for each hour of a 24-hour shift as long as the aide was given up to eight hours of sleep time (with at least five of those hours uninterrupted) and three hours for meal breaks. The DOL most recently affirmed its interpretation via an opinion letter issued in March 2010, which states in pertinent part that “it is the opinion and policy of this Department that live-in employees must be paid not less than for 13 hours per 24-hour period provided that they are afforded at least eight hours for sleep and actually receive five hours of uninterrupted sleep, and that they are afforded three hours for meals.” This recognition of the 13-hour rule for live-in employees was consistent with positions taken by the DOL in previous decades.
Continue Reading New York Court of Appeals Upholds Thirteen-Hour Rule for Home Health Aide Pay

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published a Proposed Rule, primarily intended to modify certain Medicare payment policies.  The Proposed Rule contains several provisions that address the growing use of telehealth. CMS noted that it had received many suggestions regarding the expansion of access to telehealth as well as appropriate pay for the same, in response to its call for comments in the CY 2018 Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS) proposed rule.
Continue Reading Medicare Proposes Revised Telehealth Services and Payments

The Joint Commission announced that it will eliminate a requirement of deemed home health organizations to provide the personalized written plan of care to patients. The announcement follows a communication from CMS that it will no longer require that the individualized written plan of care be given to the patients, as written in §484.60 of the Home Health Services Conditions of Participation.   Effective April  30, 2018, the Joint Commission will no longer score organizations on whether they fail to give their patients a written individualized plan of care.
Continue Reading Providing Patient Written Plan of Care Eliminated from The Joint Commission’s Standards for Deemed Home Health Agencies

A recent complaint filed by the United States Department of Justice against a private equity firms regarding an alleged kickback further illustrates new concerns private equity should be aware of in the healthcare arena and working with counsel to mitigate such concerns.  A February 23, 2018 press release from the DOJ regarding United States ex rel. Medrano and Lopez v. Diabetic Care Rx, LLC dba Patient Care America, et al., No. 15-CV-62617 (S.D. Fla.), available here, describes how the complaint was made against a pharmacy, several of its executives and the private equity firm, which manages the pharmacy and the private equity fund that owns the pharmacy.  The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida stated in the release that “We will hold pharmacies, and those companies that manage them, responsible for using kickbacks to line their pockets at the expense of taxpayers and federal health care beneficiaries.”
Continue Reading Private Equity Firm Named as Defendant in False Claims Act Case Targeting A Portfolio Company

On January 29, 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a temporary moratorium on enrolling Part B non-emergency ambulance providers/suppliers and home health agencies, subunits and branch locations in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  CMS is taking this measure “to prevent and combat fraud, waste and abuse.”  The moratorium…

On January 9, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation announced a new voluntary bundled payment model called Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced).  BPCI Advanced is the first Advanced Alternative Payment Model (Advanced APM) launched under the Quality Payment Program that was implemented as part of the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA). 
Continue Reading CMS Announces First Advanced Alternative Payment Model Under MACRA: Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a draft of interpretive guidelines (Guidelines) to the Home Health agency Conditions of Participation (the COPs).  After having previously been delayed, the COPs are set to be implemented January 13, 2018.  While feedback is being solicited on the draft and final guidelines have yet to…