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Last week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)  published an Interim Final Rule: Information Blocking and the ONC Health IT Certification Program: Extension of Compliance Dates and Timeframes in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (Interim Final Rule) providing needed relief to entities working toward compliance.  In the 21st Century Cures Act: Interoperability, Information Blocking, and the ONC Health IT Certification Program Final Rule (ONC Rule), issued on May 1, 2020, ONC defines the entities that are subject to the rule’s provisions. ONC refers to these entities as Actors. Actors include health care providers, health IT developers of certified health IT, Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), and Health Information Networks (HINs). The Interim Final Rule provides these Actors with “additional flexibilities” to implement the provisions of the ONC Rule including updated compliance dates.  ONC explained that the extension is due to the outbreak of COVID-19 public health emergency; however, this will also provide ONC with additional time to provide answers to the numerous questions that the agency has received as Actors work toward compliance. ONC is accepting comments on this rule, as is typical for an interim final rule. These comments must be submitted to regulations.gov by January 4, 2021.

The Interim Final Rule extends “the applicability date for the information blocking provisions and compliance dates and timeframes for certain Program requirements, including compliance dates for certain 2015 Edition health IT certification criteria and Conditions and Maintenance of Certification requirements.” See CMS and ONC Enforcement Deadlines Chart for more information about compliance dates for the ONC Rule.

Information BlockingContinue Reading ONC Issues Interim Final Rule Extending Compliance Dates for the Information Blocking and the ONC Health IT Certification Program

On July 17th, the California Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”) approved an emergency regulation (effective until January 14, 2021) from the California Department of Managed Health Care (“DMHC”) that specifies COVID-19 diagnostic testing coverage requirements for California health care service plans. Medi-Cal managed care plans, Medicare Advantage plans, and specialized health plans are not subject to the regulation. The DMHC provided additional context to the emergency regulation in an all plan letter issued on July 23rd.

The regulation deems COVID-19 testing to be an urgent health care service during the California state of emergency. It also states that COVID-19 diagnostic testing is a medically necessary basic health care service for enrollees who are essential workers, regardless of whether the enrollee has symptoms of COVID-19 or a known or suspected exposure to a person with COVID-19. Essential workers are defined in the regulation to include a broad range of individuals working in the health care, emergency services, public transportation, congregate care, correctional, food service, and education sectors. Additionally, they include individuals who work in retail, manufacturing, agriculture, and food manufacturing that either have frequent interactions with the public or cannot regularly maintain at least six feet of space from other workers.

Between the regulation, all plan letter, and other applicable federal law, California health plans will need to comply with the following requirements for enrollees seeking COVID-19 testing:Continue Reading Required Coverage of COVID-19 Testing for Essential Workers in California

On July 17, 2020, in a 2-1 decision, the  U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a Trump Administration rule that expands the scope of short-term limited duration insurance (STLDI) plans, affirming the lower court’s opinion that STLDI plans do not violate the Affordable Care Act. Ass’n for Cmty. Affiliated Plans v. U.S. Dep’t of Treasury , D.C. Cir. App., No. 19-05212 (July 17, 2020).

The rule’s genesis can be traced to an Executive Order issued in October 2017, which aimed to expand the availability of STLDI plans, seen by the Administration as more “appealing and affordable” than plans mandated by the ACA. The order tasked the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services with expanding the duration of STLDI plans from three months to twelve. The changes also provide for renewals of those plans, which can amount to continuous coverage for up to three years.Continue Reading Appeals Court Upholds Trump Administration’s Short-term, Limited Duration Insurance Policy Rule

On April 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a second round of regulatory waivers and rule changes in an interim final rule with comment (IFC) that added significant flexibilities for the coverage of telehealth services furnished by a broader set of eligible clinicians and in nontraditional health settings during the…

Potentially overlooked between the enactment of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the FFCRA) on March 18 and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act) on March 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral argument via teleconference on March 20 in Ass’n for Cmty. Affiliated Plans v. U.S. Dep’t of Treasury, No. 19-05212 (D.C. Cir. July 30, 2019). At issue in that case is the fate of a Trump Administration rulemaking expanding the scope of non-ACA compliant short-term limited duration insurance (STLDI) plans. Already controversial—with some arguing that STLDI plans increase access to health care, while others decry them as misleading consumers and destabilizing the individual insurance market—STLDI plans are of particular import given the COVID-19 pandemic.

As millions face unemployment, lose access to employer-sponsored health insurance coverage, and qualify to seek coverage via a special enrollment period, others may look to STLDI policies to obtain at least some coverage in the wake of COVID-19. But, as with ACA requirements such as essential health benefits and community rating, STLDI plans are not subject to the recently enacted zero-dollar cost-sharing and other coverage requirements for COVID-19 diagnostic testing.Continue Reading Appeals Court Hears Argument on Short-term, Limited Duration Insurance Plan Rule; STLDI Plans are not Required to Provide $0 Cost-share of COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing

In part two of this two-part series on what providers should know about COVID-19, hosts Payal Nanavati and Joe Records talk with Brian McGovern about guidance from state and federal health care regulators. This episode touches on how state agencies, CMS, CDC, and other regulatory bodies have instructed providers—especially nursing homes—on how to handle this…

Payers, Providers, and Patients – Oh My! Is Crowell & Moring’s health care podcast, discussing legal and regulatory issues that affect health care entities’ in-house counsel, executives, and investors. In part one of this two-part series on what providers should know about COVID-19, hosts Payal Nanavati and Joe Records discuss labor and employment issues with…