News

Congress passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package on Monday, Dec. 21, which was signed by President Trump late Sunday, Dec. 27. While most of the coverage of the legislation has focused on a new round of stimulus checks and unemployment benefits, the legislation includes some notable components for healthcare providers.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has announced that it will delay compliance deadlines for information blocking and other health information technology (health IT) provisions that were previously set to go into effect on November 2, 2020. The compliance deadlines were set by the 21st Century Cures Act Final Rule, which can be viewed here. Citing additional time necessary as a result of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, the new deadline for complying with the rule’s information blocking prohibition has been extended until April 5, 2021.

While healthcare providers were reeling from the chaos surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) quietly released two final regulations related to interoperability and data exchange across the healthcare industry. These rules implement directives from the 21st Century Cures Act and President Trump’s Executive Order 13813, and both final rules bring change and new compliance concerns for healthcare providers.

Friday, Eldredge & Clark is proud to announce the hiring of Isabel Thoma and Julio R. Olaya Jr. Isabel joins the firm’s Rogers office where she will practice in the Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group. Her practice will include all aspects of business mergers and acquisitions, including structuring, due diligence, negotiation and documentation. Julio joins the firm’s Little Rock office where he will work primarily on issues related to medical malpractice and will assist clients with labor and employment issues.

Earlier this month, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York struck down the Department of Labor’s (DOL) definition of “health care provider” as promulgated in the regulations implementing the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). See State of New York v. United States Department of Labor. In this case, the State of New York sued the DOL claiming that several provisions of the regulations implementing the FFCRA violated the Administrative Procedures Act.

Governor Asa Hutchinson issued three Executive Orders on Monday, June 15, 2020, in response to the public health crisis posed by COVID-19. Below is a summary of Executive Order 20-34. Pursuant to the Arkansas Emergency Services Act of 1973, the Executive Order authorizes all healthcare providers to provide healthcare services directed at the treatment and mitigation of symptoms of COVID-19 in response to the pandemic and during the declared emergency.

Many Arkansas attorneys have an active bodily injury practice. Often, their clients’ claims arise as a result of motor vehicle accidents. Though Arkansas requires all vehicles operating on its public roadways to carry liability coverage of a minimum limit, not all vehicle owners do so, for a variety of reasons. Further, even if the tortfeasor has liability coverage, his or her liability policy limits may not be sufficient to satisfy all damages incurred by the injured party. Or, though the tortfeasor has a liability policy, there may be coverage exclusions applicable, such that the tortfeasor’s liability carrier denies coverage. In instances such as these, coverage may be available under the injured party’s own liability policy, assuming he or she carries uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.