Registration fees:       $225 per NDHA member  |  $275 per non-member

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The COVID-19 public health emergency is anticipated to end Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023.  Since the beginning of the PHE nearly three years ago, hospitals have relied on waivers for certain federal and state laws and government agency enforcement discretion as they conducted pandemic-era operations.  Without government action extending different waivers, hospitals will lose the flexibility they grew accustomed to at the end of the public health emergency. This session will cover the numerous federal regulatory flexibilities issued during the pandemic and will provide practical guidance hospitals can use to unwind reliance on them, so they are prepared once the public health emergency ends.

The Dorsey & Whitney team of presenters will address the most relevant blanket waivers issued for hospitals by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other agencies and which of those waivers are anticipated to be extended. Among other topics, the session will include a detailed explanation of telehealth waivers, flexibilities associated with delivering care via telehealth set to expire and others that are anticipated to end 151 days after the end of the public health emergency.  Additional topics including fraud waivers, abuse waivers, agency enforcement discretion, HIPAA, EMTALA and the conditions of participation will be covered.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Describe consequences for failing to return to pre-public health emergency operations at its conclusion.
• Discuss federal waivers issues during the public health emergency.
• Identify the waivers anticipated to be extended beyond the public health emergency.
• Outline the steps hospitals should take now to prepare for the end of the public health emergency.

INTENDED AUDIENCE

• CEOs
• Chief Financial Officers.
• Health care legal professionals.
• Hospital compliance officers.

SPEAKERS

Carson Lamb represents a wide variety of clients in the health care industry, including hospitals and health systems. His practice focuses on transactional, regulatory and administrative matters at the state and federal levels. His transactional practice focuses on aiding clients in navigating and complying with complex regulatory requirements in mergers and acquisitions of all kinds. His regulatory practice is focused on a variety of matters surrounding state and federal regulatory compliance.

Laura Morgan provides regulatory advice and transactional support to health care industry clients, including health systems, hospitals, medical practices and physician practice management organizations. She has substantial experience counseling clients about compliance with the federal physician self-referral law, federal anti-kickback statute, Medicare reimbursement issues and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. She has assisted clients with identifying and addressing physician compensation arrangements that potentially implicate the Stark Law and/or AKS, including self-disclosure of such arrangements to the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Mara Sanders has extensive experience advising hospitals, health systems, academic medical centers and other providers about matters of state and federal regulatory compliance, investigations and enforcement. She works with health care providers of all sizes to understand and address risk under health care fraud and abuse laws, like the Stark Law and anti-kickback statute and other state and federal health care and life sciences regulatory frameworks. Sanders’ expertise also includes reimbursement advising, defense of government and commercial payor audit and reimbursement appeals.

Alissa Smith is a partner with Dorsey & Whitney where she represents health systems, hospitals, pharmacies, long-term care providers, home health agencies, medical practices and nonprofit and municipal organizations. Her transactional practice includes contracts, leases, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Smith’s regulatory practice includes the interpretation and application of state and federal fraud and abuse laws, Medicare and Medicaid rules, tax-exemption laws, privacy and EMTALA laws, licensing matters, employment laws, governmental audits, open records and open meetings matters. She represents health care providers before the State Health Facilities Council in certificate-of-need hearings and represents hospitals in medical staff and peer review matters.