After multiple extensions over the past three years, on Monday, January 30, 2023, President Biden announced that the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency (“PHE”) will officially end on May 11, 2023.

However, with less than four months until that date, providers must quickly review their operations and ensure their continued compliance with billing requirement changes that will result from the PHE’s expiration.  As the Office of Management and Budget acknowledged in its Statement of Administration Policy when the announcement was made:

“An abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system—for states, for hospitals and doctors’ offices, and, most importantly, for tens of millions of Americans.”

Evident potential implications include:

  • Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries may lose their ability to obtain free at-home COVID-19 testing and treatments and may have to begin paying certain cost-sharing amounts relating to these and other testing and treatments.
  • Similar to Medicare and Medicaid, private health plans may begin requiring its members to pay certain cost-sharing amounts and requiring prior authorizations for COVID-19 testing, treatments, and related services.
  • Providers may also lose the government-funded revenue streams that have been provided pursuant to various Congressional allocation actions since the beginning of the PHE.
  • Certain telehealth flexibilities may no longer be available, including relaxation of certain data privacy and security requirements under, e.g., the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (aka HIPAA), unless such flexibilities are allowed to continue.
  • Providers may lose their ability to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth means and may be required, once again, only to provide prescriptions for such controlled substances pursuant to an in-person medical evaluation of the patient, unless such flexibilities are allowed to continue.
  • Physicians may lose protection for certain self-referrals under the blanket Stark Law waivers in effect during the PHE that were meant to ensure access to care for Medicare beneficiaries and Medicaid enrollees.

Notwithstanding these potential implications, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), to their credit, had already informed the health care industry about certain telehealth measures it had decided to continue to ensure access to care:

  • Medicare coverage for temporary telehealth services added during the PHE will continue through December 31, 2023.
  • Telehealth services provided in office settings will continue to be paid at the non-facility rate (e., higher payment) through December 31, 2023.
  • Clinical staff of hospital outpatient departments (including Critical Access Hospitals) may continue providing remote behavioral health services to patients in their own homes.
  • CMS added new billing codes for home health telecommunications technology for home health agency services to begin reporting on July 1, 2023, on a mandatory basis.

Lastly, State Medicaid and CHIP agencies will be required to begin, at any point between April and June, 2023, a 12-month unwinding period, which is a congressional requirement for States to return to normal eligibility and enrollment operations.

Since the beginning of the PHE, Proskauer has been advising its clients about the statutory, regulatory, and policy changes relating to the PHE and how to navigate their nuances and complexities.  Proskauer will remain up-to-date on such changes, as the official end of the PHE become ever more imminent.

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Photo of Matthew J. Westbrook Matthew J. Westbrook

Matt is an associate in the Corporate Department and a member of the Health Care Group.  His practice focuses on providing regulatory compliance advice for the Firm’s health care clients, including service providers, health plans, operators, investors, and lenders, among others.  Matt specifically…

Matt is an associate in the Corporate Department and a member of the Health Care Group.  His practice focuses on providing regulatory compliance advice for the Firm’s health care clients, including service providers, health plans, operators, investors, and lenders, among others.  Matt specifically provides advice on fraud and abuse matters arising under the Federal False Claims Act (FCA), Civil Monetary Penalties Law (CMPL), Federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), and Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law), as well as on the regulations promulgated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Office of Inspector General (OIG), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Photo of Edward S. Kornreich Edward S. Kornreich

Past long-standing chair of Proskauer’s Health Care Department, Ed Kornreich is a recognized authority on the legal, regulatory and business issues related to health care services.

Areas of Concentration

Ed works primarily on health care transactions, regulatory compliance, health care payment and governance…

Past long-standing chair of Proskauer’s Health Care Department, Ed Kornreich is a recognized authority on the legal, regulatory and business issues related to health care services.

Areas of Concentration

Ed works primarily on health care transactions, regulatory compliance, health care payment and governance issues for varied providers (both for-profit and not-for-profit), vendors, GPOs, distributors and entrepreneurs. His approach combines sensitivity to meeting regulatory business goals with a comprehensive and realistic assessment of the health care environment, and he is particularly experienced in dealing with the complex issues related to integrated health care systems.

Industry Experience

After working for the Legal Aid Society, Ed entered private practice, where he helped represent a major public hospital corporation in a series of reimbursement disputes with the state and federal governments, and counseled New York area hospitals and nursing homes on reimbursement and operational issues. Thereafter, Ed served as General Counsel of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, one of the largest teaching hospitals in New York. After leaving St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Ed joined Proskauer as a Partner in 1990.

Thought Leadership

Ed frequently writes and lectures on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, health care integration, not-for-profit law and corporate governance issues, and the application of federal and state anti-kickback and “Stark” laws to health care transactions.