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 […]
Is This the Year of HIPAA?
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 […]
Contraception Compromise?
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
What Critical Steps Must States Take Immediately To Comply With The Clean Power Plan?
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 […]