The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) includes $100 billion for Medicare and Medicaid-enrolled suppliers/providers that provide diagnosis, testing or care for individuals with possible/actual cases of COVID-19 ...
Welcome to PointByPoint. Conversations, interviews and legal commentary for today's business professionals. In this episode, Waller’s Mark Peters talks with employment attorney Kierstin Jodway about two of the major federal stimulus packages related to the coronavirus and what it means for businesses. Here is a transcript of the conversation: Mark Kierstin, thanks for being with us today ...
As the COVID-19 outbreak spreads and officials recommend or impose increasingly restrictive steps to mitigate the impact to public health, more companies are assessing what impact the outbreak is likely to have on their business and are considering whether that impact may necessitate furloughing workers. Following is a summary of some of the core compliance issues employers should consider as they develop contingency plans that may include furloughs ...
As healthcare providers pursue transactions during and in the wake of COVID-19, both buyers and targets should prepare for heightened scrutiny during the due diligence process. Getting organized ahead of a sale can dramatically expedite timelines and reduce deal fatigue for all parties, particularly in light of the heavier-than-normal due diligence process as a result of the pandemic. Click here for a full PDF of this report ...
We are pleased to share the following summary about the Tennessee Business Relief Program. Key takeaways are: The money does not have to be paid back Revenue hopes to start disbursing in early July Unlike PPP and other relief programs, there is no application. A huge shout-out for the excellent summary to Jim Schmidt and Sharon Michie from the Tennessee’s Brewer’s Guild ...
Back in mid-March, the Department of Labor (DOL) notified key stakeholders of the likelihood it would be issuing new regulations concerning COVID-19. Yesterday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the DOL issued the long-awaited Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) regarding safety requirements that healthcare employers must implement and adhere to in light of COVID-19 ...
On the heels of growing pressure and mounting criticism from Congress and labor unions that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was not doing enough to protect workers, OSHA issued new guidance expanding employers’ reporting requirements related to COVID illnesses ...
Yesterday, the Department of Labor informally notified key stakeholders that it will soon be issuing new regulations concerning COVID-19. One expectation is that the regulations will require employers to not only implement COVID-19 prevention programs but also follow CDC guidelines ...
In September, President Biden announced aggressive plans to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, taking the fight directly to the workplace and ordering mandatory vaccination or weekly testing to employers with 100 or more employees. This week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued anEmergency Temporary Standard(ETS) regarding the COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements for employers ...
Introduction On April 1, 2020 — the effective date of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) — the Department of Labor (DOL) issued “temporary regulations” to interpret and enforce the landmark legislation passed by Congress “to assist working families facing public health emergencies” arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Earlier this month, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG)published an advisory opinionthat permitted a pain management practice to retain the profits it received from billing for the anesthesia services that an employed CRNA provided at an ASC partially owned by the practice’s physician-owner ...
Not only are healthcare providers under attack in the daily battle against the coronavirus, criminal actors are quickly taking advantage of relaxed HIPAA enforcement and standards, teleworking and the general intensity of the situation to exploit patient and other confidential information ...
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued an interpretive letter (the “Stablecoin Letter”) confirming that national banks and federal savings associations are permitted to take and hold fiat currency deposits that serve as reserves for fiat-currency backed stablecoins associated with hosted digital wallets (the “OCC Stablecoin Letter”) ...
Waller’s Financial Technology practice has been providing advice to processors, banks, ISOs, financial technology providers, merchants and other participants in the payment processing ecosystem for over forty years ...
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq) recently granted temporary relief and issued guidance to assist companies that are in imminent danger of immediate delisting and/or that are experiencing urgent liquidity needs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic ...
On June 5, President Trump signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (the “Act”) into law, providing several important modifications to the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) that PPP borrowers should know about ...
Mayor Cooper has ordered Phase 1 of Metro Nashville’s Roadmap for Reopening to begin May 11. Restaurants and stores can open at half capacity starting Monday. The Roadmap is a four-phase plan to restart the city’s economy ...
Metro Nashville has issued clarifying guidance for re-entering revised Phase Two, which begins July 3, 2020. Citing the spike in cases reported after the Memorial Day holiday, Mayor Cooper intends to prevent a new outbreak from large crowds celebrating the Fourth of July in Nashville’s Lower Broad. Dr ...
On the heels of Gov. Bill Lee’s Safer at Home Order, we are seeing a second wave of restaurant closures. Which begs an important question: Should I let the ABC and local beer board know that my business is closed? Although we have not seen any formal guidance from the ABC or beer boards on temporary corona closures, we do not expect any citations to issue for closed restaurants, bars, hotels and other licensed establishments ...
The impacts of COVID-19 appear set to permanently expand telehealth and fundamentally transform how and where providers practice. Shortly after the start of the pandemic, CMS made major temporary federal policy changes in response to the pandemic, including expanding access to telehealth services for people with Medicare, such as home health visits, and reimbursement for additional services when furnished via telehealth ...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized its proposal to expand the experimental Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model to all 50 states and conclusively transition Medicare home health services to outcome-driven, value-based reimbursement beginning in calendar year (CY) 2023 ...
Metro Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced a detailed plan for the staged reopening of restaurants, bars and music venues, as soon as May 1. The real question is: will anyone reopen their dining room on May 1st? You can read the entire Roadmap here. Initial reactions do not look good if you are in the market for a sitdown meal on May 1 ...
As November drew to a close, two district courts changed the landscape for healthcare employers who were working towards the December 5 deadline to implement the CMS Interim Final Rule’s vaccination mandate. On November 29, a federal district court in Missouriissued a preliminary injunctionenjoining the Government from imposing and enforcing the CMS IFR ...
Sunday morning, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued an executive order limiting restaurants, bars and similar food or drink establishments to drive-through, carry-out and delivery service only. Read the order here. Restaurants, limited-service restaurants and wine-only restaurants can sell take-out and deliver alcoholic beverages and beer. There is no additional license or permission needed to deliver ...
