Compliance

The 2015 Clean Power Plan (CPP) has a lofty goal: reduce existing power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions by over 30% by 2030—just 15 years. The first critical deadline for states is to file a plan by fall 2016, but government doesn’t turn on a dime. Experts have identified the best-practice steps to creating a state […]

In the last post, we discussed the challenges facing the Clean Power Plan in 2016. Only six weeks into 2016, the CPP suffered a setback. In a significant development, the U.S. Supreme Court entered a stay of implementation of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan regulations until the court challenges are resolved. The Court’s 5-4 decision

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) has a list of ten categories of essential benefits that a health insurance plan must offer. One of these essential benefits is emergency care. The ACA says that emergency services must be provided without any requirement that services be pre-authorized. This requirement seems to take into account

In December 2015, the United Nations Climate Change Conference held a historic climate change summit in Paris, France. At this highly anticipated meeting of world leaders, the conference of parties adopted the Paris Agreement, often referred to as a landmark agreement, which is a climate pact agreed to by 195 countries. Under the agreement, the

Americans hear a lot about prescription medications. Since the mid-1980s, when direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs first started, advertisements that tell us to ask our doctors “if [name of medication] is right for you” have become a staple of television. Print ads often take up several pages in magazines, and pop-up internet advertisements offer us

The Affordable Care Act has a certain tension built into it. The Act is a federal law that requires individuals to have a minimum level of health insurance coverage. Health insurance in the United States, and the benefits that must be covered by that insurance, has long been a matter for regulation by the states.

Compliance decisions are driven by a number of factors. One is the need to avoid enforcement actions by state or federal regulators. Another is a fear of private lawsuits. Any lawsuit is trouble for a company. Even a frivolous or meritless suit involves time and expense, not to mention negative publicity. The Affordable Care Act

One of the most controversial parts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been the requirement that contraceptive services be covered by health plans. In 2014, the Supreme Court held that an employer that opposes contraception for religious reasons may not have to offer insurance that covers contraception. The employer must certify

On April 21, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights announced a resolution with New York Presbyterian Hospital regarding HIPAA privacy violations. The violations took place when the personal health information of two patients was disclosed to a crew from the ABC television series NY Med without the permission of the

Like all significant regulatory acts, the Clean Power Plan will be scrutinized and tested by the courts. As noted in earlier posts, numerous lawsuits and legal challenges to the CPP are currently pending in the courts. On both sides of the issue, the interested parties believe strongly in the merits of their legal position. While