While the U.S. House of Representatives was busy impeaching President Trump for the second time, the President was busy. Lost in news of the tumult of violence in the Capitol was the White House announcement of the signing of legislation breaking a pillar of insurance law – the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945. Health insurers, including…
The Washington State Attorney General has answered a question of which types of health care professionals can “flock together” to form a multidisciplinary professional limited liability company. The answer – every profession noted in the state statute other than physical and occupational therapists who must flock amongst themselves. The question of who can own a…
Government response to the Coronavirus has included a wide range of emergency measures governing health plan administration. Some of these measures address dislocations caused by sudden change in employment status while others address administration of benefits for employees marooned at home. The fast pace of change wrecks the predictability required for health care benefits tied…
Catastrophe reveals character and exposes fraud. From one shut-in to another, I’ve quickly learned from the flood of calls and “chats” that some clients rush to the aid of customers and others rush to the bunkers. A reckoning will come later when I evaluate my own contributions and assess the decent use of my time…
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), in collaboration with the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) just posted an updated Windows only version of its HIPAA risk assessment tool (SRA). I know; lots of exciting acronyms, abbreviations, and labels! You can download the new software on the government’s Health IT…
The Washington Insurance Commissioner (OIC) has proposed new rules to codify current procedures for filing large group health plans for bona fide associations. Under current requirements, the agency provides instructions for filing association health plans qualifying as a single large group plan under ERISA rather than rules governing these filings. The OIC requires that insurance…
