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Esperance Becton is an associate in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and a member of the Healthcare Industry team.

As individuals continue to live longer beyond retirement and the U.S. population size of those 65 years and older continues to increase, the demand for long-term services and supports (“LTSS”) is also expected to increase.[1] LTSS represents the wide-ranging health and social services that individuals require over an extended period of time, including assistive services.[2] The increasing demand for these services will also likely proportionally increase health care expenditures of LTSS. According to the Congressional Research Service, which analyzed data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) National Health Expenditure Accounts (“NHEA”) on the personal health expenditures for LTSS by payer, in 2021, an estimated $467.4 billion was spent on LTSS. This represents 13.2% of the $3.6 trillion spent on personal health care.[3] Notably, the first and second largest payers of LTSS are Medicaid and Medicare, respectively, accounting for 64.1% of all LTSS spending nationwide in 2021.[4] Absent public LTSS funding, individuals must rely on private funding, and in 2021, private sources accounted for just 28.6% of LTSS spending.[5]Continue Reading The PACE Solution to Increasing Demands for Long-Term Services and Supports in the U.S.

As more and more states are enacting privacy laws, organizations in the health care industry may be wondering what the impact these laws will have on them. At this point, there are privacy laws in 12 states, with one more (Delaware) likely to be signed by the governor soon. Those laws are in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. (There is also a new law in Delaware currently pending the governor’s signature). Not all are in effect. Only the laws in California, Connecticut, Colorado and Virginia are effective. The others will go into effect between December of this year and 2026, as follows:Continue Reading State Privacy Law Roundup: What Health Care Companies Need to Know

The once-novel medium of telehealth surged onto the stage as a common sense solution to the COVID-19 pandemic. This surge was facilitated, in part, by certain flexibilities authorized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in its response to the public health emergency (“PHE”) declared in March of 2020 and which was repeatedly renewed until now. On January 30, 2023, President Joe Biden announced that the PHE would end on May 11, 2023. As the curtains are drawn on the PHE, there can be no doubt that telehealth is here to stay. In light of that reality, it is essential that participants in the telehealth space understand what flexibilities will remain in play.Continue Reading Telehealth in a Post-PHE World