On Friday, April 17, President Barack Obama signed into law the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, repealing the "sustainable growth rate" formula or "SGR" which was set by Congress in 1997 to control Medicare spending by limiting annual increases...
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Firm News
Revocation of Home Health Agency’s Medicare Enrollment and Billing Privileges Upheld
The revocation of a home health agency's (HHA) Medicare enrollment and billing privileges was recently upheld by an Administrative Law Judge in the Civil Remedies Division of the Health & Human Services Departmental Appeals Board (ALJ). The ALJ determined that the...
Health Care Providers Cannot Sue States Over Low Medicaid Reimbursement Rates
On Tuesday, March 31, 2015, in a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court of the United States ("SCOTUS") ruled in the case Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc., that health care providers cannot sue a state to challenge low Medicaid reimbursement rates. Initially,...
Technology in Health Care Grows in Popularity
The shift in the health care industry toward greater efficiency and a higher level of quality of care is resulting in technological innovation. The popularity of the practice of medicine via mobile and wireless devices is on the rise and telemedicine is leading the...
RI Creates New Tax Credit for Small Business Investment Companies
The Rhode Island General Assembly recently created a new program designed to promote private funding for Rhode Island small businesses. The program creates a tax credit for Small Business Investment Companies (“SBIC”) that invest in eligible Rhode Island businesses....
Estate Planning Ideas in a Low Interest Rate Environment
With the Fed’s recent interest rate cut and more interest rate reductions likely on the way, this may be a good time to take advantage of the low interest rate environment to transfer assets to your beneficiaries with minimal tax consequences and significant benefits...
New Rhode Island Law Limits Non-Compete Agreements
Rhode Island recently joined a growing list of states with laws limiting the ability of employers to use non-compete agreements in the workplace. Employers often insist that employees sign non-compete agreements which would restrict an employee’s ability to work in...
Supreme Court Rules States Cannot Tax Trust Income Solely Based on Beneficiary’s Residence
In N.C. Dep’t of Revenue v. Kimberley Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on June 21, 2019 holding the State of North Carolina may not tax a beneficiary on the income of a trust merely because the beneficiary resides...
New Deadlines Announced for Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Law
In 2018, Massachusetts passed a new law that provides workers with paid family and medical leave (the “PFML Law”). With limited exceptions, it applies to most Massachusetts employers, large and small, and includes both W-2 employees and some independent contractors...
