by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | May 2, 2024 | Clinical
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. Noora Health has developed a program of “health companions” in a variety of types of healthcare settings (“Teaching Patients How to Heal,” The New York Times, April 14, 2024) to help patient heal. The basis of these programs is that when...
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | Apr 18, 2024 | Clinical, Regulatory
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. Some owners and managers of private duty home care agencies mistakenly think that fraud and abuse prohibitions apply only to services paid for by the Medicare Program. In fact, fraud and abuse prohibitions apply to providers if they accept...
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | Apr 11, 2024 | Clinical, Regulatory
By Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. A key purpose of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is certainly to protect patient information. Another is to help ensure that patients have access to their health information. In fact, the Office of Civil...
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | Mar 28, 2024 | Clinical, Regulatory
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq., Primary caregivers – often patients’ family members – are crucial players in home care. Without them, it can be impossible to provide home care services and to keep patients in their homes. If patients cannot care for themselves, reliable...
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | Mar 13, 2024 | Regulatory
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq., DOJ Says “Knock on Our Door Before We Knock on Yours” On March 7, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a new pilot program that includes financial incentives for whistleblowers to report violations. The new...
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | Mar 6, 2024 | Admin, CMS, Regulatory
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq., CMS recently issued guidance about how to build and maintain worker registries, i.e., management platforms, that make qualified health workers easy to find so that more individuals who receive Medicaid-covered home and community-based...
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | Feb 28, 2024 | Clinical
by Elizabeth E Hogue, Esq., After a hospitalized patient suffered a severe choking incident and was placed on life support, his family faced a difficult decision in response to a telephone call from the hospital. They were asked if they wanted to remove life support....
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | Feb 21, 2024 | Admin
By Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. Case managers/discharge planners continue to come under fire from fraud enforcers for violations of the federal anti-kickback statute. This statute generally prohibits anyone from either offering to give or actually giving anything to...
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | Feb 14, 2024 | Admin
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. Two former Amedisys employees claim that they were fired in retaliation for alerting management to possible violations of the federal False Claims Act. They then filed a whistleblower, or qui tam, lawsuit [Pilat v. Amedisys, Inc., No....
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. | Feb 7, 2024 | Admin, Regulatory
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. A caregiver in Wyoming who is charged with causing the death of her mother has been jailed based on allegations that she committed aggravated assault and battery; deliberate abuse of a vulnerable adult; and intentionally and maliciously...
