New Law Makes It Harder to Deny Coverage for Preexisting Conditions

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) imposes certain new obligations on group health plans.

MDs, PPMCs and the SEC

Health care providers are long used to living with and talking in acronyms, from M.D. and Ph.D., to CT and EKG.

Maryland Regulatory News - Summer 1997

1. The Health Services Cost Review Commission's (HSCRC) 1997 Annual Disclosure Report revealed that Maryland's cost per hospital admission was about 3% below the U.S. average in FY 1996.

Grandfathering Period Ends for Maryland's Self-Referral Law

Maryland's self-referral law, enacted in 1993, generally prohibits health care practitioners from referring patients to entities in which they have an ownership interest, or with which they have a

Did You Know? - Summer 1997

Antitrust Settlement for Mental Health Networks.

AWP Statutes and ERISA Preemption

Last fall, the Supreme Court declined to review the 1996 Fifth Circuit decision in State of Louisiana v. CIGNA.

Antitrust Guidelines

In 1996, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (the Agencies) updated their joint Statements of Antitrust Enforcement Policy in health Care (the Statements).

1997 Maryland Legislative Session

The following is a sampling of health care/health insurance measures enacted by the Maryland General Assembly during its 1997 Session:

Provider-Sponsored Organizations

In the fast moving world of risk bearing, managed health care entities, a new player has emerged, namely "provider-sponsored organizations" (or PSOs).

Supreme Court Finds No Constitutional Right to Physician-Assisted Dying

In a pair of decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court held, on June 26, 1997, that terminally ill individuals do not have a constitutionally protected right to a physician's assistance to die.