The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”), has issued two final rules clarifying certain regulatory terms and adding and amending exceptions and safe harbors to accommodate “value” transactions under the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”), the federal Physician Self-Referral Law (the “Stark Law”), and the Civil Monetary Penalties Law (the “CMP Law”). The following is a summary of the new rules, followed by certain examples of potential real-life applications of the changes.

The economic impact of COVID-19 on health care continues to reveal itself through reductions in patient volume and revenue and in higher practice costs. As the pandemic stretches on, physician practice viability remains under threat. Financial impacts were assessed with a claims-based analysis of changes in Medicare physician spending for the first six months of 2020 and a nationwide survey of physicians in July and August of 2020.

What might happen in the next 24 months, in the healthcare system? Healthcare Innovation asked several senior executives of pioneering provider organizations—and they had some ideas.

In this report McDermott Will & Emery has assembled a comprehensive overview of the healthcare industry in 2020, with particular emphasis on the legal implications of the unprecedented year. McDermott also looks ahead to the future of the industry, which is full of opportunities to break down long-standing barriers to innovation and move towards a more modern and patient-centric vision of care in many areas.