The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, HR 7148 (the Act), just signed into law on February 3, 2026, ended a brief government shutdown and includes multiple provisions with a critical impact on health care organizations. We have previously covered the Act’s renewal and extension through 2027 of COVID-era Medicare telehealth flexibilities and its revisions to
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Appeals Dropped of Decision Vacating HIPAA Reproductive Health Privacy Rule, Confirming Apparent End of the Rule and Attestation Requirement
By Conor Duffy & Ivy Miller on
On September 10, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed an appeal of the federal court ruling vacating key provisions of the HIPAA reproductive health care regulations, which appears to signal the end of the Purl case (previously discussed here) and to confirm the end of provisions of the HIPAA…
CMS Announces Merit-Based Incentive Payment for Clinicians Participating in COVID-19 Clinical Trial
By Nathaniel Arden & Robinson+Cole's Health Law Group on
On April 21, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that clinicians participating in the Quality Payment Program (QPP) can earn credit in the Merit-based Incentive payment system (MIPS) by attesting to a new COVID-19 Clinical Trials improvement activity based on participation in a clinical trial and reporting information. Clinicians who may earn this MIPS credit include physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and others. MIPS is one of two options for clinicians to participate in Medicare’s QPP, and requires clinicians to report certain quality, cost and other data to Medicare. A clinician’s Medicare reimbursement may be reduced if the clinician does not meet certain quality and performance measures.
Continue Reading CMS Announces Merit-Based Incentive Payment for Clinicians Participating in COVID-19 Clinical Trial
CMS Extends Hospital and CAH Attestation Deadline
By Robinson+Cole's Health Law Group on
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has extended the eligible hospital and critical access hospital (CAH) attestation deadline from February 28, 2018 to March 16, 2018. The extension provides additional time to submit attestation data and electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data. Eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals attesting to the CMS Electronic…