The recent government shutdown caused multiple Medicare statutory payment provisions to lapse on October 1, 2025, due to the absence of Congressional action. With the passage of the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 (Pub. L. 119-37), (discussed here), Congress has retroactively restored many of these
Reimbursement
Telehealth Survives Again: What the Most Recent Flexibility Extension Means for Providers
This post is co-authored with Paul Palma, legal intern at Robinson+Cole. Paul is not admitted to practice law.
On November 12, 2025, President Trump signed H.R. 5371 the “Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs and Extensions Act, 2026” (the Act). The Act ended the federal government shutdown by providing necessary funding…
Telehealth Services on the Brink Again – Is a 7-Week Stopgap the Only Fix?
This post is co-authored with Paul Palma, legal intern at Robinson+Cole. Paul is not admitted to practice law.
Healthcare providers are again confronted with the potential termination of telehealth services unless Congress acts to extend the Medicare flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. If no legislative action is taken before September 30, 2025, those providers…
CMS Proposes Several Changes Affecting Telehealth Services in the 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule
This post is co-authored with Paul Palma, legal intern at Robinson+Cole. Paul is not admitted to practice law.
On July 14, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the calendar year (CY) 2026 physician fee schedule (PFS) proposed rule, which in pertinent part proposes several changes affecting the delivery and reimbursement…
CMS Issues Guidance and Requests Information to Promote Hospital Price Transparency Compliance and Enforcement Efforts
On May 22, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took a series of actions to promote enhanced price transparency compliance by hospitals and identify challenges thereto, in order to inform future price transparency enforcement activities and policies. These actions were taken in furtherance of the President’s February 2025 Executive Order No. 14221…
U.S. Supreme Court Denies DSH Hospitals’ Attempts to Seek Higher Medicare Payments
On April 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion upholding the formula the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) utilized to calculate Medicare hospitals’ disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payment adjustments, denying a challenge brought by hospitals seeking higher DSH reimbursement. In Advocate Christ Medical Center v. Kennedy, No. 23-715 (S.
Medicare Telehealth Flexibilities Extended through September 30, 2025
This post is co-authored by Seth Orkand, co-chair of Robinson+Cole’s Government Enforcement and White-Collar Defense Team and Paul Palma, law intern at Robinson+Cole. Paul is not admitted to practice law.
On March 14, 2025, as part of a spending bill to avert a federal government shutdown, Congress extended COVID-era telehealth “waivers” applicable to Medicare…
Trump Administration Issues Executive Order Prioritizing Hospital Price Transparency Enforcement
On February 25, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Making America Healthy Again by Empowering Patients with Clear, Accurate, and Actionable Healthcare Pricing Information” (the 2025 Order). The 2025 Order directs federal agencies to take various actions to prioritize enforcement of healthcare price transparency requirements for hospitals and health plans “to support…
OIG Audit Scrutinizes Hospital Compliance with Price Transparency Rule
*This post was co-authored by Paul Palma, legal intern at Robinson+Cole. Paul is not admitted to practice law.
In November 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) published the results of its audit assessing hospital compliance with the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule (HPT Rule). OIG determined that 37…
CMS Finalizes Standard for Identifying Overpayments and Grace Period for Investigations of Related Overpayments
As part of its 2025 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule (PFS Rule), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized two crucial updates to federal Medicare overpayments regulations (sometimes referred to as the “60-Day Rule”) that (1) align the standard for when an overpayment is identified with the applicable standard under the…