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This Archive Contains Some "Secret" Documents Only Made Public In The Course Of Lawsuits Filed Against Pharmaceutical Companies (Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com) Created and maintained by the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), the Drug Industry Document Archive (DIDA) contains over 1500 documents, many of which were previously secret and only made public as a result of lawsuits filed against drug companies. In September 2009 Kim Klausner, who is the Tobacco Digital... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 01:36 pm by Tom Lamb

Marks 10th Anniversary Of IOM Study On Medical Errors And Raises Concerns About Lack Of Progress (Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com) The Consumers Union's Safe Patient Project (formerly Stop Hospital Infections) is holding a forum, "To Err Is Human, To Delay Is Deadly," in Washington, DC, today, Tuesday, November 17, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST. There is a free live webcast on this "To Err Is Human, To Delay Is Deadly" forum on the day of the event. If you cannot tune in then, a... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 05:33 am by Tom Lamb

Results From Large Long-Term Study Show Association Between These Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agents And Venous Thromboembolism (Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com) In late October 2009 we learned that the results from the Trial to Reduce Cardiovascular Events with Aransep Treatment (TREAT) indicated that the anemia drug Aranesp might cause an increased risk for stroke in patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Just a couple of weeks later we have been presented with a possible... Posted on November 11, 2009 at 01:45 pm by Tom Lamb

Jennifer S. Hendricks (University of Tennessee College of Law) has posted Pregnancy, Equality, and U.S. Constitutional Law on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This chapter will be part of a collection on international feminist constitutionalism, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.... Posted on November 21, 2009 at 01:04 pm by Reproductive Rights

Omaha World-Herald: Right Now: Stem cell meeting, by Jeffrey Robb: LINCOLN -- Omaha.com is providing live online updates as the University of Nebraska regents' decide whether to restrict embryonic stem cell research. Four regents are co-sponsoring a resolution to restrict... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 10:45 am by Reproductive Rights

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: Abortion Plays Small Role in Health Reform Opposition: While most Americans oppose government funding of abortion, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that concern about abortion funding plays only a small... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 10:41 am by Reproductive Rights

In Section 6411 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R.3590), the Senate Democratic health care reform bill provides for the expansion of the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program. Specifically, Section 6411 provides for the Medicare RAC program to be expanded to Medicare Parts C and D by no later than December 31, 2010. Section 6411 also contains some special rules. For instance, Section 6411 would require the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 09:56 am by Michael Apolskis

On November 19, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed (by a vote of 243-183) the Medicare Physician Payment the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 (H.R.3961). As previously reported, H.R.3961 would repeal the now 21.2 percent Medicare payment rate reduction for physician services in 2010 and restructure the sustainable growth rate (or SGR) formula. The Congressional Budget Office recently released a cost estimate for H.R.3961 indicating that it would increase direct spending... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 06:12 am by Michael Apolskis

On November 18, 2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) releases its cost estimate associated with the Senate Democrat's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R.3590). According to the CBO, the provisions of H.R.3590 would cost $848 billion over 10 years (2010 - 2019), yield a net reduction to the Federal deficit of $130 billion over that time period, and extend insurance coverage to approximately 31 million eligible Americans. However, such projections include provisions that would... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 12:36 pm by Michael Apolskis

DADS released an information letter and a news alert. Medicaid NFs and ICFs/MR: For 2010, there will be no automatic increase for COLA for Medicaid consumers with SSI, because there was no increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009. (Letter) News alert: During its stakeholder meeting for Case Management and Service Coordination, Residential Reviews, Rate Analysis, and Nurse Reviews for HCS and TxHmL external stakeholders on July 23, 2009, DADS gathered... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 09:16 am by Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D.

CMS announced incentive payments of over $92 million to physicians and other eligible professions for reporting quality-related data to Medicare under the 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). (Source) CMS developed a program to give doctors an incentive for raising quality of care and for reporting to CMS. In 2007, physicians reported for a six-month period. Last year, CMS gave them the choice of reporting for six months or a year. The number of professions earning the incentive... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 08:57 am by Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D.

DADS announced that the CDS option is now available in CLASS for nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech/hearing/language therapy. DADS will continue to offer habitation and respite care under the CDS option. You may choose whether to manage some or all of these services yourself or allow your CLASS Direct Services Agency to manage services for you. From the letter: "The CDS option allows you to: recruit and hire your service provider set your service providers' schedules... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 12:49 pm by Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D.

And if you care, you should meep too. Read the amazing story about the school principal who tried to ban a word.Additional web pages: InSync Communication, Drug Expert Witness. Terms of use agreement and privacy policy. Copyright &#xc2&#xa9 2006-2008 InSync Communication. All rights reserved. Posted on November 14, 2009 at 05:37 am by Peter Rost

Get your digital copy sent to your iPod, iPhone or Kindle here: Additional web pages: InSync Communication, Drug Expert Witness. Terms of use agreement and privacy policy. Copyright &#xc2&#xa9 2006-2008 InSync Communication. All rights reserved. Posted on November 12, 2009 at 03:56 am by Peter Rost

Additional web pages: InSync Communication, Drug Expert Witness. Terms of use agreement and privacy policy. Copyright &#xc2&#xa9 2006-2008 InSync Communication. All rights reserved. Posted on November 11, 2009 at 08:34 am by Peter Rost

Hooray to the Dallas Morning News for its week-long series on health care and the systemic issues that have contributed to the crisis we are now in. Free registration may be required to view all of these articles. . . .Sun., 9/27: High prices, red tape fuel popular Dallas doctor's move to Temple Sun., 9/27: Focus on cost efficiency, quality pays off for Temple-based Scott & White Healthcare Sun., Posted on September 27, 2009 at 07:17 pm

Good article in today's NY Times comparing the Obama health reform plan to the Massachusetts experience, including a nifty graphic that summarizes the similarities and differences nicely.I think Obama's initial emphasis on cost-control is smart - it's by no means clear that the U.S. can afford universal coverage at this point, and even if we tried, the effort would be doomed if unsustainable cost Posted on March 29, 2009 at 10:52 am

This is quite a remarkable series of articles on end-of-life care and in particular palliative care at Baylor University Medical Center. Short of watching the amazing 6-hour documentary by Frederick Wiseman ("Near Death"), this is as close as most of us will get to the true in-hospital experience until it happens to one of us or someone we love. All of the articles are collected in one place, Posted on December 18, 2008 at 10:34 pm

Here is an article about Jeremy Tyler in which our friend Sonny Vacarro is quoted. Tyler is a junior in high school who will forego his senior year in high school to earn money playing professional basketball in Europe. After his first year, logic would hold that he should be eligible for the NBA draft, like the European kids who pursue the same path. But the NBA eligibility rules have a curious wrinkle that treats American kids differently than European kids and he will not be eligible until... Posted on April 27, 2009 at 07:54 am

In a remarkable Opinion, the Iowa Supreme Court declared unconstitutional that state's ban on gay marriage. You can read the Opinion here. Alan Milstein Posted on April 9, 2009 at 11:20 am

/**/ Here is an intersting post from NBA.com on Brandon Jennings and our friend Sonny Vacarro: Alan Milstein Jennings mounts a quiet revolution while Madness reigns By Vincent Thomas, for NBA.com Posted Mar 27 2009 10:31AM Instead of helping the resilient Arizona Wildcats maim the No. 1 seeded Louisville Cardinals on Friday, my favorite teenage ballplayer and best pro prospect will be toiling somewhere in the Mediterranean, which, in March basketball terms, is no different than floating in the... Posted on March 30, 2009 at 08:59 am

The drug industry stands to gain about 30 million new customers with drug insurance from the legislation pending in Congress so it isn't surprising that the industry is promising to support Washington's health care overhaul. This support comes in the... Posted on November 16, 2009 at 01:52 am by HealthLawProf Hodnicki

A new Policy Brief published by Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides an excellent analysis of the proposed government-run public health insurance plan under the landmark health reform legislation passed by the House of Representatives. The Policy... Posted on November 15, 2009 at 11:09 am by HealthLawProf Hodnicki

A study of more than 120 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse US elementary school children shows that children develop an awareness about racial stereotypes early and that those biases can be damaging. Specifically, the study illustrates that when children become aware... Posted on November 14, 2009 at 06:42 am by HealthLawProf Hodnicki

Vitamin B6 The headline in the Wall Street Journal read, "New Study Gives B Vitamin a Boost" and the first sentence in the article was, "Bring out the niacin." It turned out that a vitamin - even only a prescription formula - produced better results than Merck's new cholesterol-lowering medicine, Zetia. That was according to a 208-patient trial whose results were announced this month at the annual scientific meeting of the American Heart Association. Score one for the people who have say that... Posted on November 22, 2009 at 10:24 pm by Hugo Ottolenghi

Two days of hearings before the FDA about search-based advertising for drugs produced one possible solution: fixed warnings for products. Google has proposed that its AdWords could include a hyper-linked line that warns consumers about the potential dangers of a drug. As we have written before, makers of nutritional supplements should pay close attention to comments submitted to the FDA before February 2010. There will likely be advocates for warnings on all products that make a claim to... Posted on November 16, 2009 at 08:07 pm by Hugo Ottolenghi

Ever since receiving FDA notices about their advertising generated from Google and similar searches, drugmakers have toned down their language and sought clarity on what is allowed. The discussion has ramifications for makers of nutritional supplements, because they could be next to face agency scrutiny for every ad created in response to a search for acai, reseveratrol and the like. On Nov. 12, drugmakers and search-engine advertising agencies participated in about 30 presentations before the... Posted on November 13, 2009 at 09:10 am by Hugo Ottolenghi

DH Consulting Group, located in Boston, MA, specializes in analysis of complex design and construction issues in support of cost-effective and time-sensitive dispute resolution. Focusing on support services to legal representation of owners, contractors, design professionals, insurance carriers and their counsel, DH Consulting brings big-project expertise and hands-on industry familiarity to the defense team. Strategic risk management and dispute resolution services include: Comprehensive... Posted on October 31, 2009 at 10:42 am by A Campbell

New Hampshire law firm Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell has launched an updated web site featuring its core industry focus in these areas: Financial Services and Banking Insurance and Insurance Defense Energy & Utilities Real Estate Development The site map has been slightly rearranged and is awaiting Google's reindexing (hint, hint): About Us Attorneys Industries Practices Resources News Contact Sitemap Learn more at gcglaw.com Posted on October 15, 2009 at 02:10 pm by A Campbell

CONCORD, NH - Business and entertainment attorneys Jon Garon and Denis Maloney will be among the featured panelists at the New Hampshire Film Festival taking place October 15th - 18th in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Garon and Maloney will participate in a panel discussion for independent filmmakers titled "The Top Ten Legal and Business Choices for Independent Filmmakers," presented by the New Hampshire Film and Television Office. This panel will identify and highlight the most important lessons... Posted on October 10, 2009 at 10:34 am by A Campbell

At the recent BioMedUpstate Summit in Buffalo, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich touted Buffalo's progress in the life sciences, and explored the economic impact potential of the emerging field. As reported in The Buffalo News, Gingrich told the audience that "There's a huge opportunity to create a research-based community that could increase wealth for upstate New York by creating new products and new services and new technologies that could be marketed worldwide," It's a whole new way... Posted on October 16, 2008 at 01:38 pm by Eric C. Genau

A $6.7 billion merger proposal will be considered by Invitrogen shareholders during a special meeting on Oct. 16. The Board of Directors of Invitrogen, which has more than 500 employees at its Gibco division on Grand Island, previously approved merging with Applied Biosystems Group. According to a Business First report, the merger requires approval by shareholders of both firms, as well as the approval of the European Commission. The merger would result in a combined company be known as Applied... Posted on August 25, 2008 at 08:36 pm by Eric C. Genau

The Buffalo News reported that M&T Bank's Charitable Foundation awarded $100,000 to the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute to pay for recruitment of its new CEO and other scientists in the future. HWI's new CEO, Eaton E. Lattman has expressed a desire to work with University at Buffalo to bring a senior scientist to HWI to serve as the head of the Structural Biology Department. He also wants to expand the Institute's computational biology program and increase efforts in molecular... Posted on May 20, 2008 at 12:22 pm by Eric Genau - Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP

Probably both. Today, in advance of the Senate's strictly partisan vote to proceed to debate on the health care reform bill, 1 Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu attempted to do what might have seemed impossible: She not only defended the $100 million in earmarks gifted to her state, but actually called herself "proud" of having asked for an amount she then, audaciously, put at about $300 million. In her remarks today during the debate leading up to tonight's historic vote, Landrieu made the point... Posted on November 21, 2009 at 08:05 pm by John Culhane

The recent news that a federal judge has ruled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and by extension, the U.S. Government, liable for at least some of the preventable disasters associated with Hurricane Katrina should lead the government to do what it should have done long ago: Provide generous, long-tail assistance to help the residents of New Orleans get back on their feet. To see why, just take a moment to compare what "we've" done for victims of another disaster: September 11. In that case,... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 09:17 pm by John Culhane

"I can't believe they would put an economic value over the lives of fifteen or more people." (Statement of a woman whose father died as a result of eating raw oysters that contained a deadly bacteria.) "Let the rationing begin." (Rep. David Camp, Ranking Republican on House Ways and Means Committee, responding to U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Report that recommends women delay routine mammograms until age 50).1 Public health takes a beating again. In the first case, the FDA has had to eat... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 07:01 pm by John Culhane

On November 18th, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion reversing and remanding a WD Washington decision that had precluded a biotechnology company from seeking recovery against a third party for contractual indemnity claims relating to a qui tam action. The qui tam defendant, Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTI), had hired the Lash Group to provide Medicare reimbursement consulting services. CTI alleged that Lash Group had advised it that off-label uses of CTI's cancer drug were reimbursable by... Posted on November 20, 2009 at 09:53 pm by admin

At a press conference today, Civil Division Assistant Attorney General Tony West announced DOJ's FCA recoveries for the fiscal year which ended on September 30. According to the DOJ press release, the US recovered $2.4 billion under the False Claims Act, bringing to more than $24 billion the total recoveries since the 1986 amendments which revitalized the FCA. Some highlights: $2 billion, or 83% of the recovery, came from qui tam suits Relators received $255 million (12.75%) in awards... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 04:35 am by Ben Vernia

DOJ announced on November 18 that it had reached a settlement, of $3.02 million plus interest, with Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and that it was intervening against Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in East Patchogue, New York. The qui tam suit, brought in 2005 by relator Tony Kite, alleged that the hospitals had inflated their costs, and sought and received outlier payments (supplemental reimbursements made to hospitals and other health care providers in cases where... Posted on November 18, 2009 at 11:36 pm by Ben Vernia

Becker's Hospital Review is reporting that six hospitals in North Carolina are being asked to repay approximately $2.5 million in overpayments made by the state health plan, which is administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. The full report can be found here. The News and Observer also has an article, which can be found here. Posted on November 20, 2009 at 07:43 am by Bart Walker

We'd like to invite you to share with us your top business and legal concerns. Please either leave your thoughts in the comments or reach out to us by email, Twitter or the "Contact Us" tab on the site. We will do our best to address your suggestions in future posts. Posted on October 29, 2009 at 12:18 pm by Bart Walker

The text of the proposed Senate Finance Committee Healthcare Reform Bill has been released. You can find a copy here: [finance.senate.gov] Posted on October 21, 2009 at 12:24 pm by Bart Walker

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) unveiled the long-awaited Senate health care bill, titled the "Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act," yesterday evening. In a news conference held to announce the bill, Sen. Reid said that the bill embodied the Precquisident's health care goals, calling it a "tremendous step forward." The bill would cost $848 billion and would reduce budget deficits by $130 billion over ten years, according to the recently released Congressional Budget... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 03:22 pm by Jason Greis

Recently, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued guidelines on employee severance agreements: "Understanding Waivers of Discrimination Claims in Employee Severance Agreements" ([www.eeoc.gov]). In the guidelines, the EEOC provides employees with general information about the enforceability of releases in severance agreements, a checklist of factors an employee should consider when evaluating a severance agreement, and sample severance agreements. Limits on Release Scope... Posted on November 15, 2009 at 06:14 am by Jason Greis

On Saturday, October 7, the House approved H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. The bill passed the House 220 to 215, squeaking by with just two votes more than the bare minimum needed to pass the legislation. 39 Democrats opposed the bill, and one Republican, Representative Joseph Cao (R-LA) voted for the bill. Rep. Cao said that the decision to back the bill came after talking to his constituents, many of whom are uninsured. The bill came to a vote after a days-long deadlock... Posted on November 9, 2009 at 06:04 pm by Jason Greis

Other topics in this post: Real World Experience: Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD Real World Experience: Clay Shirky The Online Health Forum launched on October 28th on the FACA Blog to elicit comments and opinions on your Health IT adoption experience (or your plans for EHR adoption). Thank you for your active participation, with nearly 200 posts to date and over 10,000 "hits." True to the spirit of our Open Government philosophy, many of you extended the conversation throughout a number of more... Posted on November 19, 2009 at 05:27 am by Aneesh Chopra

As the HIT Standards Committee and its various Workgroups listen to the experience and advice of practitioners, standards experts, clinical system vendors and technological wizards and contemplate what recommendations to make to the Office of the National Coordinator, we often turn to look at what works in the real world as an anchor. One of the earliest principles the Committee embraced is that the standards being recommended should be in actual use - to be not only adoptable but adopted. An... Posted on November 9, 2009 at 06:56 am by Dr. Marc Overhage

Since May of 2009, a Federal Advisory Committee called the HIT Standards Committee (HITSC) has been identifying standards that will help stakeholders select and meaningfully use electronic health record (EHR) systems. What is a standard? A standard (per the definition of the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel) specifies a well-defined approach that supports a business process and: (1) has been agreed upon by a group of experts; (2) has been publicly vetted; (3) provides rules,... Posted on October 30, 2009 at 06:41 am by Dr. John Halamka

This post was written by Dana Blanton. On November 12 and 13, 2009, the FDA hosted public hearings to vet the potential need for regulation of prescription pharmaceutical and medical device marketing on social media outlets such as YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter. The FDA specifically sought input on these five questions: (1) For what online communications are manufacturers, packers or distributors accountable? (2) How can manufacturers, packers, or distributors fulfill regulatory... Posted on November 17, 2009 at 09:23 am

Across the country, plaintiffs' attorneys are targeting health care facilities over their alleged failure to comply with meal break rules. These suits claim that employers have automatically deducted 30 to 60 minutes of time for employees' meal periods, even if employees never took the breaks. Because employees can recover for violations that took place as many as three years before suit is filed, damages in these cases can be substantial. For more information, including steps you can take to... Posted on November 14, 2009 at 05:34 pm

While Congress continues to debate the "big picture" issues of broad-scale health care reform, pending bills in both the House of Representatives and Senate contain proposals to amend federal prescription drug price regulation programs such as the Medicaid rebate statute, the Public Health Service Act's Section 340B program, and Medicare Part D. For an overview of current proposals in this area and highlights of important issues for prescription drug manufacturers, distributors and dispensers,... Posted on November 12, 2009 at 07:44 am

Part 4 of 7 This is part four of seven in my series of posts listing seven of the most common mistakes I see made by new business owners, along with suggestions and resources to avoid making these critical mistakes yourself. If you missed my previous posts in this series, you can read them here: Common Mistake #1: Poor Recordkeeping Common Mistake #2: No Business Plan Common Mistake #3: Not Having Business Agreements In Writing&nbsp [...] Posted on November 16, 2009 at 08:00 pm

What would happen to your business if you were suddenly removed from the picture? The overwhelming majority of small businesses fail shortly after a sudden change in ownership. Astute business owners need a formal business succession plan in place to ensure the continued success of their business in case of their sudden death, incapacity or long term disability rendering them unable to make critical business decisions. Death and disability are not su [...] Posted on November 10, 2009 at 08:00 pm

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has once again delayed enforcement of the Red Flags Rule, this time until June 1, 2010. This latest enforcement delay comes at the request of the U.S. Congress. The Red Flags Rule is a federal law targeting identity theft by requiring financial institutions and creditors with covered accounts to create, implement and administer a written identity theft prevention program. The FTC has previously [...] Posted on November 5, 2009 at 08:00 pm

Hot off the press is some very good news about generating more accountability for those who choose to profiteer off of the elderly and infirm. Below is an email alert I received from The National Consumer Voice For Quality Long-Term Care detailing the changes the bill will provide: Nursing Home Transparency Clears Another Round As House Votes on Health Care Reform The 1990-page health care reform bill passed by the House of Representatives just before midnight Saturday includes not only... Posted on November 9, 2009 at 08:39 am

I found an interesting article online which addresses the recent epidemic of contractures in nursing homes.Contractures are injuries, usually sustained by the elderly in nursing homes, which limit their mobility and range of motion. When residents enter nursing homes with preexisting medical conditions they often times do not receive the proper amount of physical exercise. This decrease in regular movement leads to degeneration and increased stiffness in the joints, and ultimately leads to... Posted on October 26, 2009 at 01:34 pm

I read an article online last week about nursing home employees in Hudson County who held a "Family Day" march in Jersey City after working the last two years without contracts. The walk was held in hopes of putting pressure on their employers, Omni Assets Management, in hopes of negotiating a fair contract for all Omni employees. You can read more about the march online here. Posted on October 19, 2009 at 07:36 am

The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") has again extended enforcement of the Red Flag Rules, now until June 1, 2010. The latest delay comes at the request of Congress, which is considering a bill that amends the identity theft rule by eliminating entities with fewer than 20 employees from complying. The House of Representatives passed that bill [...] Posted on November 4, 2009 at 11:17 am by emilyreiling

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ("CMS") has announced that most hospitals will receive an inflation update of 2.1 percent in their payment rates for services provided to Medicare beneficiaries in outpatient departments. Due to a Medicare requirement, CMS will reduce the update by 2.0 percentage points for hospitals that did not participate in quality data [...] Posted on November 3, 2009 at 08:07 am by emilyreiling

Employers with group health plans need to provide Medicare Part D notices of creditable or non-creditable coverage to Medicare-eligible individuals by November 15, 2009. Employers can satisfy this requirement by including the notice in enrollment materials or in separate mailing during the fall. When preparing materials for distribution this fall, employers should be aware of [...] Posted on October 22, 2009 at 10:46 am by emilyreiling

Hospital Use of Social Media - Reference Article I just found a good article in the St. Louis Suburban Journal. The article discusses some uses that hospitals are making of Twitter and other social media but primarily focuses on some of the resistance of hospitals to use some of the Web 2.0 technologies. You can access the [...] Posted on October 31, 2009 at 06:55 am by admin

Medicare and Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Summit The AP reported on Wednesday of this weeks that the Obama administration is considering holding a summit to address Medicare and Medicaid Fraud. See AP Report On Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Summit This report highlights that Medicare Fraud and Abuse enforcement is likely to increase greatly in the future. We are [...] Posted on October 30, 2009 at 02:02 pm by admin

The Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009 which was introduced last week by Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, died today without reaching the Senate floor. The Bill needed 60 votes to proceed and only received 47. The Bill was intended to fix problems with the Medicare sustainable growth rate that is used as the basis for [...] Posted on October 26, 2009 at 09:11 pm by admin

B cell leukemias, Parkinson's disease, and ischemic heart disease are now presumptive diseases / illnesses for veterans exposed to Agent Orange. On October 13, 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs in a news release announced the VA is extending VA benefits to Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange. The October 13, 2009, VA news release states an "estimated 2.6 million" veterans were exposed to the herbicide commonly referred to as Agent Orange. Secretary Shinseki... Posted on October 20, 2009 at 09:13 am

The.mighty.B 52 Posted on September 26, 2009 at 04:38 pm

Suicide is not the answer, according to this clip. Unfortunately, many wounded and disabled veterans carry the burden of depression, loneliness, fear of the unknown future, and just want to give up. I understand all too well. For the disabled veteran their world has turned upside down. They were active, strong, and had the future. Depending on the injury, event or disease that changed the veteran's life, the hope may be gone. For me I sought counseling on how to deal with my loss and also how... Posted on August 11, 2009 at 05:22 pm

Osmolarity vs. Osmolality - What a difference a single letter makes! Can getting a single letter of the alphabet wrong in an issued patent spell disaster when it comes to litigating against infringers? Unless the mistake is seen as being a minor typographical error that can be corrected by filing a certificate of correction, the answer is a resounding yes. Hats off to Peter Zura of The 271 Patent Blog for his post on Central Admixure Pharmacy Services v. Advanced Cardiac Solutions (06-13-07).... Posted on September 28, 2009 at 09:31 am

/**/ As a Fort Lauderdale Patent Attorney, I have been fortunate enough to practice within a stone's throw of the annual meeting location one of the most exciting and interesting expositions on medical and dental innovations in the united States, namely, the Florida International Medical Exposition or FIME for short. If you are a medical or dental device innovator, this is one tradeshow you DO NOT want to miss. It will take place from August 12 - 15, 2009, at the Miami Beach Convention Center.... Posted on July 24, 2009 at 01:40 pm

Although my practice is national in scope, I take particular interest in Florida's medical and dental patenting landscape. Recently, I ran across an article regarding Accubreak Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ABP) of Plantation, Florida that caught my interest. Accubreak Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ABP) will action six medical patent applications through IPAuctions, Inc. according to an article on www.auctioninfo.org on June 13, 2009. Accubread Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a number of Florida medical patents... Posted on July 1, 2009 at 03:16 pm

At a recent Seattle meeting of interested organizations, Washington State Ferries explained how it intends to convert its public-address announcements made on its vessels and at its terminals into text form, then to display those announcements to make them accessible to patrons with hearing loss. The basic system will be modeled after the system used at San Francisco Airport, where all gate information and passenger pages are displayed in text on some 80 screens visible throughout the airport.... Posted on September 2, 2009 at 06:53 pm

After a year of correspondence with Wash-CAP, Seattle Arts and Lectures is making its popular Benaroya Hall presentations by prominent authors significantly accessible to patrons with hearing loss by captioning five of its 2009-10 events. Captioned presentations include two Pulitzer Prize winners, an award-winning screenwriter, two food-and-travel authors, and a medical journalist whose work is profoundly influencing the national debate about health-care reform. The captioned schedule is as... Posted on July 28, 2009 at 01:11 pm

Seattle Repertory Theatre will make much of its 2009-10 season accessible to people with hearing loss by offering captioned performances of its four at the Bagley Wright Theatre, Rep's main stage. The productions and caption dates are: 39 Steps -- Thursday, Oct. 1 Equivocation -- Thursday, Dec. 3 Glengrarry Glen Ross -- Thursday, Feb. 11 Fences -- Thursday, April 1 Tickets will go on sale Aug. 21. Seattle Rep marketing director Katie Jackman plans to send us an email link that we can post on... Posted on July 9, 2009 at 02:34 pm

On August 3 the HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that authority for the administration and enforcement of the HIPAA Security rule will now be delegated to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The Security Rule was previously administered and enforced by CMS. According to a press release issued by HHS, the delegation of both rules to the OCR will avoid duplication and improve efficiencies. As Ms. Sebelius explained, "[P]rivacy and security are naturally intertwined, because they both... Posted on August 4, 2009 at 02:18 pm by afehn

Wachler & Associates was featured in today's edition of the Detroit Legal News for our work defending RAC audits. To read the article, click here. For more information and updates about RAC audits, please see our special RAC website at www.RACattorneys.com. Posted on July 29, 2009 at 12:24 pm by afehn

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced today that it will delay the enforcement date of the Red Flags Rule until November 1, 2009. This is the third delay prompted, in part, by concerns expressed by the health care community. The FTC announced that this most recent delay will give those subject to the rule more time to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. The FTC originally announced the Red Flags Rule last summer. As previously blogged here, a health care... Posted on July 29, 2009 at 12:12 pm by afehn