Search

Background hero atmospheric image for Search
Search

Are Your Business Methods Patentable?

 Patent protection may now be available for certain types of business methods that previously might have been unprotectable.

Clinical Trials - Follow The Rules

More and more doctors are supplementing their income by soliciting their patients to participate in clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies.

Did You Know? - Spring 2000

Utilization Review as the Practice of Medicine: Did you know that Ohio's Attorney General recently opined that physicians making utilization review decisions for third-party payors

Federal Limits on Year 2000 Liability

Maryland's attempt to limit liability for Year 2000 problems was vetoed by Governor Glendening.

Did You Know? Winter 1999

Dually Eligible: Did you know that the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has upheld a lower court decision that validated the District of Columbia's practice of reimbur

Gainsharing...What's Left

 When the Medicare Program adopted the Prospective Payment System (PPS) in the mid-eighties, regulators were concerned that by paying hospitals a fixed amount per diagnosis, hospitals might be

"ARM" Twisting at the HSCRC

Recent proposals by payors have caused Maryland's Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) to review, to revise, and to reissue its policy relating to Alternative Rate Methodologies (ARMs).

Maryland Regulatory News - Fall 1999

1. In July, the Health Resources Planning Commission (HRPC) ruled that a 1985 Certificate of Need (CON) exemption granted to Drs.

Maryland Regulatory News - Winter 1999

1. In September at its final meeting, the Health Resources Planning Commission (HRPC) approved a new open heart surgery program for Sacred Heart Hospital in Western Maryland.

Maryland's Patients' Bill of Rights

While Congress is wrangling over a federal Patients' Bill of Rights, it should be remembered that Maryland passed its own Patients' Bill of Rights Act in 1999.

OIG Work Plan - What's in Store for 2000?

The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG), the agency charged with enforcing Medicare fraud and abuse prohibitions, has recently released its Work Plan fo

MedChi Chimes in on Non-Competes

The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland (MedChi), Maryland's largest medical society, recently issued a Report concerning restrictive covenant

Supreme Court Opens Door: More State Regulation of Benefit Plans, Including Stop-Loss Policies

Thanks to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), state regulation of health care is likely to increase substantially.

New IRS Regulations on Transfers from For-Profit Companies to Exempt Entities

Tax-exempt hospitals appear to be swinging back from the days of experimenting with for profit ventures that assumed managed care risk or operated physician practices.

Sexual Harassment and the Practice of Medicine

In May of 1999, Maryland's highest court addressed two issues of interest to the medical community - sexual harassment and the definition of the practice of medicine.

Here Comes the Attorney General

Health care providers should take notice of the expanding role of State Attorneys General in the internal corporate activities of nonprofit health care entities.

Is the SAAC Discount Dead?

Maryland's hospital rate-setting commission, the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC), has traditionally allowed third-party payors to pay Maryland hospitals 4% less than the hospitals' a

Can an HMO Be Billed for the Balance?

Maryland's Attorney General has issued advice to the State Insurance Commissioner concerning "balance billing" of HMO enrollees.

Inspector General Reports to Congress on Medicare Fraud

June Gibbs Brown, the Inspector General of the U.S.

Did You Know? - Summer 1999

Health Lawyers Acquitted: Did you know that two health care attorneys were acquitted of criminal charges that they allegedly participated in an anti-kickback violation involving a

Angry Doctors

Gordon Feinblatt's recent physician seminar attracted the press, and the following is a reprint of the resulting article that ran in several local newspapers.

New Maryland Health Care Legislation - Summer 1999

The following is a sampling of some of the more significant health care measures enacted by the Maryland General Assembly during its 1999 Session.

Physician Unions: An Antitrust Panacea?

Can physicians increase their bargaining power in negotiations with managed care plans (MCPs)? One way is for physicians collectively to negotiate their contracts with MCPs.

Maryland Regulatory News - Summer 1999

1. In March, the Health Care Access and Cost Commission (HCACC) released its annual report on health care expenditures and utilization based on 1997 data.

Medical Care and the Millennium Bug

We all know the first joke of the new millennium: "Don't be on a life-support system at midnight on December 31, 1999."