Megan B. Barker

In a recent win for healthcare practitioners, the Supreme Court in Ruan v. United States held that, to convict individuals of violating the Controlled Substances Act, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly or intentionally acted in an unauthorized manner. The decision resolves a split among federal circuit courts. As a result of the split, healthcare practitioners were held to different standards related to the requisite state of mind for conviction under the CSA solely based on the location of their practice. In other words, a physician convicted in one state could have avoided conviction in another. The Supreme Court’s adoption of a universal standard cures this injustice.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently begun to send warning letters to hospitals that are not in compliance with the recently effective price transparency rule. This warning comes on the heels of CMS’s audits of a sample of hospitals in January.

Although hospitals are still devoting their full attention and resources to responding to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they are expected to comply with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) price transparency rule. After withstanding a recent legal challenge, the rule went into effect on January 1, 2021. Understandably, hospitals have been slow to comply with the rule.

Although hospitals are still devoting their full attention and resources to responding to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they are expected to comply with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) price transparency rule. After withstanding a recent legal challenge, the rule went into effect on January 1, 2021.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Stites & Harbison, PLLC announces the addition of three attorneys to the firm. Megan Barker joins the Lexington, Ky., office while Caitlyn Barnes and Ameena Khan join the Louisville, Ky., office. All are admitted to practice in Kentucky.