Tag archives: Supreme Court

ACA Survives “[T]hird Installment in [U.S. Supreme Court’s] epic Affordable Care Act [T]rilogy”

On Thursday, June 17, 2021, in a 7-2 opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) in the case California v. Texas. The Court held that Texas, the other plaintiff states, and the two individual plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge as unconstitutional the ACA’s minimum essential coverage provision. The plaintiffs … Continue reading

Supreme Court to Hold Oral Arguments on Certain Republican States’ Challenge to the ACA on November 10

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on certain red states’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act on November 10, one week after the November 3 presidential election, according to the court’s online docket released on Wednesday, August 19.  The central argument in the case is whether the entire ACA is invalid without a … Continue reading

COVID-19 Update: CMS Approves First Section 1135 Waiver

Following President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on March 13, 2020, CMS approved the first Section 1135 waiver related to Medicaid on Monday.  The State of Florida received permission to eliminate the limits on instances of care furnished and how many participants receive care from an out-of-state provider for the duration of the 1135 … Continue reading

Allina Update: Supreme Court holds Medicare statute requires notice and comment for DSH payment change

In a decision with potentially far reaching implications for Medicare hospital reimbursement, on June 3  the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) in Azar v. Allina Health Services.   The Court affirmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision that vacated a rate calculation … Continue reading

The Supreme Court resolves circuit split on FCA statute of limitations period

On May 13, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, holding that the False Claims Act’s (“FCA”) limitations period in 31 U.S.C.(b)(2) applies to “relator-initiated actions” in which the Government declines to intervene and that a relator in a nonintervened suit is not “the … Continue reading

Twenty states file a lawsuit alleging the ACA is unconstitutional without the individual mandate penalty

A group of twenty states has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration alleging that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional.  Plaintiffs take the position that the elimination of the individual mandate penalty in  the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Pub. L. No. 115-97), without a corresponding elimination of the individual mandate, renders the … Continue reading

Court applies Escobar, overturns $350M False Claims Act verdict

In Universal Health Services v. U.S. ex rel Escobar, the United States Supreme Court emphasized the importance of the materiality standard in False Claims Act cases. Since that decision, litigants have anxiously awaited further guidance on how Escobar’s instructions would be applied by lower courts. In U.S. ex rel Ruckh v. Salus Rehabilitation, LLC et … Continue reading

Judge doubles down on finding of materiality in FCA case

Federal courts continue to grapple with applying the “materiality” standard that is needed to cause a Stark Law violation or other underlying compliance matter to trigger False Claims Act liability. Although we have recently begun to gain a clearer view of what contractual requirements will not likely be viewed as material, at least one federal … Continue reading

SCOTUS applies ERISA exemption to plans established by church-affiliated hospitals

In an 8-0 decision, the Supreme Court unanimously held that ERISA’s exemption of “church plans” from its regulation of employee benefit plans extends to church-affiliated hospitals even if an actual church did not establish the plan. The Petitioners, Advocate Health Care Network, Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, and Dignity Health, are church-affiliated nonprofits that run hospitals … Continue reading
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