On November 21, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the CY 2026 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center Final Rule (the Rule), which includes several significant changes to hospital price transparency regulations. The changes follow from Executive Order 14221, entitled “Making America Healthy Again by Empowering Patients
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Update on Processing of Telehealth Claims Impacted During the Government Shutdown
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…
OIG Greenlights Sponsored Diagnostic Testing in Advisory Opinion 25-07
This post is co-authored with Paul Palma, legal intern at Robinson+Cole. Paul is not admitted to practice law.
On July 2, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) published Advisory Opinion 25-07, which concluded that a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s proposed arrangement to sponsor a free, FDA-approved companion diagnostic test…
Keeping Cool When ICE Arrives: Basic Raid Response Strategies for Laboratories
This was was authored by Edward J. Heath, co-chair of Robinson+Cole’s Enforcement, Investigations + Litigation in Health Care team.
Since January, there have been almost daily media reports about federal government agents conducting operations intended to sweep up individuals who are in the U.S. illegally. The primary agency responsible for these activities is Immigration and…
Clean Slate: San Antonio Lab Executives Exonerated in Health Care Fraud Case
This post is co-authored by Julianna M. Charpentier, a member of Robinson+Cole’s Enforcement, Investigations + Litigation in Health Care team.
Earlier this year, a Florida jury fully acquitted two owners of an independent clinical laboratory located in San Antonio, Texas accused of conspiring to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. Defendants Diego Sanchez…
From Risk to Readiness: Navigating the Payor Audit Landscape
As payer audits become more frequent and complex, laboratories and healthcare providers must be equipped to respond effectively. Labs are especially vulnerable due to high-cost services and billing complexity. Triggers include but are not limited to sudden spikes in service volume, changes in test panels or clientele, use of uncommon codes or modifiers, and high…
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;…
Joint Commission Releases Guidance for AI in Health Care
This post is co-authored with Lauren Ludwig, legal intern at Robinson+Cole. Lauren is not admitted to practice law.
The Joint Commission (TJC) and Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) recently published the Guidance on the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (Guidance), which outlines strategies for health care organizations to optimize their integration of health…
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…
Appeals Dropped of Decision Vacating HIPAA Reproductive Health Privacy Rule, Confirming Apparent End of the Rule and Attestation Requirement
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…