Last month (September 2018), California Governor Jerry Brown signed California S.B. 822, enacting the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018 1 (the “Act”). The Act will take effect on January 1, 2019, and aims to restore the Obama-era internet access regulations first adopted by the Federal […]
Publications
Trade Dress and Design Patents Provide Overlapping Protection for Your Brand
When launching a new product line in your business, a key consideration and concern is protecting the brand surrounding the new product. The most obvious way to establish protection over a brand is through a trademark filing, which extends to protect the name and logo of the product. But consider […]
New Fraud Risk Indicator on the OIG Website
On September 27, 2018, a new post on the OIG website www.oig.hhs.gov educates providers about the Fraud “Risk Spectrum” which categorizes risk from low to the high as follows: the highest risk is program exclusion, followed by the high risk of heightened scrutiny, the medium risk of imposition of a […]
Preventing Common 501(r) Mistakes
Section 501(r) of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) and the final regulations published by the IRS put into place very specific requirements for tax-exempt hospitals relative to financial assistance policies (FAPs) and community health needs assessments (CHNAs). The Code requires the IRS to perform desk reviews of the Form 990, […]
Deregulation Continues: CMS Proposes Reducing Medical History and Physical Examination (“H&P”) Requirements for ASCs and Acute-Care Hospitals
On September 20, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule that would “reform Medicare regulations that are identified as unnecessary, obsolete, or excessively burdensome on health care providers and suppliers” (“Proposed Rule”). One of the more significant proposals would eliminate the current comprehensive medical […]

