Health Law Pulse

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COVID-19 Update: CDC Recommends Double Masking and Changes Quarantine Guidelines

By Yvonne Puig US, Daphne Calderon US & Jeff Wurzburg US

February 11, 2021

Two recent updates in COVID-19 guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) demonstrate the challenges faced by public health officials to appreciate and incorporate the ever-changing science surrounding the global pandemic. New guidance from the CDC recommends wearing a cloth mask over a medical mask. The CDC’s guidelines recommend: Choosing a mask with a nose wire; Using a mask fitter or brace to prevent air from leaking; Checking that the mask…

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The Joint Commission’s First Special Edition Sentinel Event Alert

By Yvonne Puig US, Daphne Calderon US, Jeff Wurzburg US & Mary Ytterberg (US)

February 3, 2021

Recognizing its unique position to understand and shed light on the collective experience of America’s health care organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic, on February 2, 2021, the Joint Commission published the first in its series of special edition Sentinel Event Alerts. The special edition publication addresses COVID-19-specific concerns and comments that the Joint Commission’s Office of Quality and Patient Safety has received from healthcare workers, patients, families, governmental agencies, and more, as well as further…

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COVID-19 Update: Biden Executive Order Creates Special Enrollment Period

By Yvonne Puig US, Daphne Calderon US & Jeff Wurzburg US

February 1, 2021

On January 28, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order entitled Executive Order on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (“Executive Order”). “In light of the exceptional circumstances caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic”, the Executive Order creates a special enrollment period in states that operate Federally-facilitated exchanges from February 15, 2021 – May 15, 2021, using existing authority under the Affordable Care Act’s implementing regulations found at 45 C.F.R. §155.420(d)(9). The fifteen…

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COVID-19 Update: Reflections on a Pandemic

By Yvonne Puig US, Daphne Calderon US & Jeff Wurzburg US

January 22, 2021

Much has been written to acknowledge the solemn milestone of 2 million deaths worldwide, and 400,000 deaths in the US from COVID-19. Yesterday marked one year since the first known diagnosis of the coronavirus in the US. We have been blogging on the pandemic for one year today (read first HL Pulse post, US Prepares for Deadly Coronavirus), and regularly since that time. We mourn the extraordinary loss of lives, and we express our…

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COVID-19 Update: US President Joe Biden Releases COVID-19 Roadmap and Executive Orders

By Yvonne Puig US, Daphne Calderon US & Jeff Wurzburg US

January 22, 2021

On January 20, 2021, Joseph R. Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. Within hours of taking the oath, President Biden signed an executive order entitled Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing that requires wearing masks and encouraging social distancing in Federal buildings and on Federal lands. President Biden also signed an Executive Order on Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government to Provide a Unified …

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COVID-19 Update: HHS OGC Issues PREP Act Advisory Opinion

By Yvonne Puig US, Daphne Calderon US & Jeff Wurzburg US

January 12, 2021

On January 8, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released Advisory Opinion 22-01 entitled On The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act Scope of Preemption Provision. The Advisory Opinion addresses the Fourth Amendment to the Declaration Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act for Medical Countermeasures Against COVID-19 and Republication of the Declaration, which was published in the Federal Register on December 3, 2020. The Health Law Pulse has previously…

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COVID-19 Update: Secretary Azar Extends Pubic Health Emergency

By Yvonne Puig US, Daphne Calderon US & Jeff Wurzburg US

January 8, 2021

On January 6, 2021 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar renewed the Public Health Emergency declaration, effective January 21, 2021. In a tweet, Secretary Azar announced the renewal and stated that “[o]ur work to combat the virus will continue, as will our work to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition.” The timing is notable as the most recent extension, October 2, 2020, was set to expire the day after…

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COVID-19 Update: Healthcare provisions (Including Medicare GME Revisions) in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021

By Mark Faccenda US, Andrew Roth (US), Thomas Dowdell US, Jeff Wurzburg US & Hayley White US

January 4, 2021

On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the fourth round of COVID-19 emergency relief that passed both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“Act”) includes approximately $900 billion in pandemic relief and is reportedly the longest bill (5,593 pages) to be passed in Congress’s history. In addition to COVID-19 relief, the Act includes the following noteworthy healthcare provisions: Medicare Graduate Medical Education (“GME”) Provisions Distribution…

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COVID-19 Update: First Person Receives COVID-19 Vaccine in U.S.

By Yvonne Puig US, Daphne Calderon US & Jeff Wurzburg US

December 14, 2020

Almost eleven months after the first confirmed coronavirus patient in the State of Washington (HL Pulse post here), the first dose of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine was administered in the U.S. to a critical care nurse a little after 9:00 a.m. ET. This happened just three days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) issued an emergency use authorization for the vaccine. Pfizer had submitted its EUA on November 9, 2020 (HL…

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CMS Publishes 2021 Hospital OPPS and ASC Final Rule

By Jeff Wurzburg US & Thomas Dowdell US

December 4, 2020

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has published the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (“OPPS”) and Ambulatory Surgery Center (“ASC”) final rule for CY 2021. CMS finalized an annual increase OPPS and ASC rates of 2.4 percent for CY 2021, based on a 2.4 percent market basket update and without a cut for productivity. CMS will begin eliminating the inpatient-only list of procedures in 2021 and completely eliminate inpatient only procedures by CY…