All Perspectives

On April 27, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a proposed rule that, among other things, would eliminate the 0.2 percent inpatient payment reduction resulting from the “2-Midnight Rule.”

In an international arbitration administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an arbitral tribunal rejected Philip Morris International Inc.’s effort to challenge Australia’s “Plain Packaging” law for tobacco products on grounds of treaty shopping.

Last week, the International Trade Commission issued its report on the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s overall impact on US trade.

New provisions in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 arm the government with new enforcement tools that rights holders can use to bolster intellectual property right (IPR) protection, especially for semiconductor components.

The DOJ has finally acted on long-awaited website accessibility rules, though their approach was unexpected.

In an opinion piece recently published in Roll Call, Senior Policy Advisor Sen. Byron Dorgan references 28 pages in the 9/11 Commission’s Report that were labeled “Top Secret” by the Bush administration, suggesting that the content of these excluded pages should be made fully available to the Americ

The US Department of Labor has issued much-anticipated final regulations making changes to overtime exemption requirements under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Retailers should implement routine checks on advertising and pricing to ensure language is accurate and consistent with offerings.

On Wednesday, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) released its economic assessment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, predicting small rises in US employment, GDP, and exports as a result of the agreement over the next 15 years.

On April 26, 2016, United States Steel Corporation filed a massive trade case accusing Chinese steel producers and their distributors of conspiring to fix prices, steal trade secrets and use false labeling to avoid trade duties.

Starting January 1, 2017, larger employers with employees working in San Francisco will have to provide employees with paid parental leave to bond with a new child. On July 1, 2017, the ordinance expands to cover smaller employers.

On Monday, the US Supreme Court sent a potential class action case back to the Ninth Circuit for reconsideration, marking an intermediary win for Spokeo Inc., which uses a “people search engine” to find, compile, and sell publicly available personal information.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently began its second round of audits of covered entities and business associates for compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule, Security Rule, and Breach Notification Rule (the “Phase 2” audits).

On May 15, 60 Minutes featured two high-profile cases successfully defended by white collar partner Peter Zeidenberg involving Americans wrongly accused of espionage-related crimes.

The California Office of the Attorney General (OAG) recently released a report detailing a comprehensive analysis of the data breaches reported to the OAG between 2012 and 2015.

FDA announced Tuesday that it will begin reevaluating how it regulates the use of the term “healthy” on food labeling.

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued warning letters to companies whose mobile applications contain cutting-edge software that can monitor consumers’ television viewing habits.

On May 6, 2016, CMS published in the Federal Register a request for comments on proposed revisions to the information to be collected pursuant to the CMS Voluntary Self-Referral (Stark) Disclosure Protocol (SRDP).

The legally mandated paid sick leave landscape is ever-changing, with new leave laws and legislation developing at the state, federal, county, and city levels.

Arent Fox Health Care partner Linda A. Baumann was quoted extensively in Bloomberg BNA’s Health Care Fraud Report in an article on recent concerns surrounding the Stark Law that prohibits physician self-referrals.

Last September, we published an alert warning retailers of a looming expansion in the reach of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act that would impose requirements on e-commerce websites to make themselves more accessible to users with a wide variety of disabilities.

In fact, the House passed the DTSA by a vote of 410-2 on April 27, 2016, and today, May 11, President Obama signed it into law. The DTSA is codified at 18 U.S.C. 1836(b).

In March 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) enhanced its Medicare enrollment screening for new and existing enrollees to the Medicare program. Providers not meeting CMS’s enhanced enrollment screening risk denial, revocation, or deactivation of Medicare billing privileges.

The FTC final order against a video game marketing company highlights that advertising partners must monitor influencer disclosures and performance.