On Tuesday, January 9, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) approved a request from New York State (“NYS”) to amend its Medicaid section 1115(a) demonstration (the “Demonstration Amendment”),[1] which will allow for important expansion of the NYS Medicaid program, including:Continue Reading 2024 Brings Expansion to Medicaid in New York State

On August 21, 2023, the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) announced updates to the Medicaid overpayment self-disclosure program, which now includes an abbreviated process for reporting and explaining overpayments that are considered routine or transactional in nature and have been already voided and adjusted.Continue Reading New York Medicaid Providers Now Have Two Pathways to Self-Disclose Overpayments to the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General

On June, 23, 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed the Healthcare Accountability and Consumer Protection Act (Intro. 844-A). This local law amends the New York City Charter and directs the Mayor to establish an Office of Healthcare Accountability – the first of its kind in the country. Among other things, the NYC Office of Healthcare Accountability will allow New Yorkers to compare costs charged by NYC hospitals for the same services.Continue Reading New NYC Local Law Promotes Health Care Price Transparency

On June 30, 2023, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) issued a notice to nursing home operators and administrators announcing that it will begin conducting assessments on July 10, 2023 of nursing homes’ compliance with the State’s minimum staffing requirements. Nursing homes that fail to adhere to the three requirements outlined in the minimum staffing standards in any quarterly period face civil penalties of up to $2,000 per day that they are out of compliance.Continue Reading NY Nursing Home Minimum Staffing Assessments Set to Begin

The growth of private equity and other financial sponsor investments in the health care industry has led many states across the country to adopt expansive oversight authority over health care transactions. With the enactment of New York State’s budget for the State Fiscal Year 2023-2024, signed into law on May 3, 2023, the movement for more oversight in New York is coming this summer.Continue Reading New Notice and Public Disclosure Requirements for Material Health Care Transactions in New York

On January 31, 2023, the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) released three guidance documents to assist Medicaid providers in meeting the requirements of recently adopted regulations governing (i) the implementation and maintenance of an effective compliance program for certain providers; (ii) Medicaid managed care fraud, waste and abuse prevention programs; and (iii) OMIG’s Self-Disclosure Program for overpayments.Continue Reading Attention New York Medicaid Providers: It’s Time to Upgrade Your Compliance Program

New York Telehealth Reforms – 2021 and Beyond

The Empire State continues its expansion of telehealth adoption as Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced a number of proposals as part of his 2021 State of the State agenda set to “permanently adopt COVID-19-era innovations” in telehealth.  The proposals are part of a wave of proposed legislation meant to cement the changes in telehealth regulation necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic (the “Pandemic”). Building on New York State’s adoption of Senate Bill S8416 over the summer which had already made a permanent change in the expanded definition of telehealth to include audio-only telephone communication, if adopted the proposal would provide licensing reciprocity in certain specialties, as well as remove traditional prerequisites to the provision of telehealth.
Continue Reading “State” of Telehealth Series: New York