On March 13, 2024, Indiana enacted Senate Bill No. 9, which establishes that the Office of the Indiana Attorney General must receive prior written notice of certain transactions involving Indiana healthcare entities. This new law goes into effect July 1, 2024, and has a more expansive reach than many of its peer transaction notice laws. It expressly identifies private equity firms as qualifying entities, applies to a broad scope of transactions and sets a lower threshold for reportable transactions than other states at $10 million. Indiana has not yet promulgated regulations, rules or guidance related to the law.
Parties interested in Indiana’s healthcare landscape should closely monitor developments, as the $10 million threshold and broad definition of “health care entities” is likely to capture healthcare transactions that previously would not have been subject to review.
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-2 along party lines to ban all new noncompete agreements nationwide and render existing noncompete agreements binding most workers unenforceable. The Final Rule, slated for publication in the Federal Register, provides that employers’ use of noncompete agreements amounts to an “unfair method of competition” that runs afoul of Section 5 of the FTC Act.
For a deeper dive, join our multidisciplinary team of employment and antitrust lawyers for a webinar covering what employers need to know about the Final Rule and what to do next.
FTC’s Final Noncompete Rule: What It Means and Next Steps for Employers Wednesday, May 8, 2024 Webinar | 2:00 – 3:00 pm (EDT)
On February 6, 2024, the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a letter to all Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations and Medicare-Medicaid plans. The letter covered frequently asked questions and answers related to the coverage criteria and utilization management requirements in the CMS Final Rule issued on April 5, 2023.
Among the FAQs was guidance related to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to assess coverage decisions. CMS wrote, “An algorithm or software tool can be used to assist MA plans in making coverage determinations, but it is the responsibility of the MA organization to ensure that the algorithm or artificial intelligence complies with all applicable rules for how coverage determinations by MA organizations are made.” For example, in a decision to terminate post-acute care services, an algorithm or software tool can be used to predict the potential length of stay, but that prediction alone cannot be used as the basis to terminate services.
CMS also expressed concern that algorithms and AI technologies can exacerbate discrimination and biases, emphasizing that MA organizations must comply with nondiscrimination requirements of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
During this election year, McDermottPlus is actively monitoring annual regulations that federal agencies are expected to release, as well as “ad hoc” regulations that will be released at the discretion of federal agencies.
This chart displays health-related regulations that may be issued this year, organized by federal agency and date of potential release.
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) empowers Congress to act to invalidate regulations issued by federal agencies. These regulations include final rules, interim final rules and guidance documents. The CRA is most practically used by a new Congress to invalidate regulations issued by a previous administration and received within 60 legislative days of the previous Congress’ adjournment.
Should Republicans gain control of both chambers of Congress and the presidency, the 119th Congress could use the CRA to nullify certain Biden administration regulations. With federal elections looming later this year, this article reviews the CRA and how it might impact the current administration’s regulatory agenda.
