Alert
Published 07/18/2016
Industries Health Care
Summary There appears to be momentum on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to modify and/or repeal the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act of 1989, more commonly known as the Stark Law, which was enacted to curb overutilization of certain health care services. The Stark Law, as amended, prohibits a physician from referring Medicare patients for so-called designated health services to an entity with which the physician or an immediate family member has a financial relationship (compensation or ownership) unless an exception applies. The momentum is prompted in part by the passage of the Medicare...
Alert
Published 07/13/2016
Industries Health Care
Summary On July 11, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued guidance (the “Guidance”) for health care entities relating to ransomware and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). The Guidance does not introduce new mandates for covered entities and business associates, but it does emphasize how rigorous adherence to the HIPAA Security Rule can help prevent and mitigate the effects of ransomware attacks. As noted in the Guidance, ransomware “is a type of malicious software cyber actors use to deny access...
Blog Post
Published 07/13/2016
By Ronald R. Fieldstone
Article
Published 07/11/2016
By Matthew S. Draper
Services Corporate | Emerging Company and Entrepreneur Services
Matt Draper, an associate in Saul Ewing’s Business and Finance Practice, authored this article which provides an overview of term sheets. The article explains who creates term sheets, common details found in term sheets, and how a term sheet is ultimately used to help complete transactional deals.
Blog Post
Published 07/08/2016
By Jason Tremblay
Alert
Published 07/06/2016
Industries Health Care
Summary On June 30, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced that a business associate providing management services to nursing homes in the Philadelphia, Pa. region agreed to pay $650,000 and enter into a corrective action plan (“CAP”) relating to alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). The OCR began investigating the Catholic Health Care Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (“CHCS”) after the OCR received notices from six nursing homes due to a breach of unsecured...
Alert
Published 07/05/2016
Industries Food, Beverage and Agribusiness
Summary On June 8, 2016, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill into law that will broaden the liquor laws in the state. Scheduled to go into effect in early August 2016, the bill contains something for a broad range of stakeholders, including consumers, breweries, wineries, casinos, restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations. Dramatic changes will occur in the production, distribution and sale of wine and beer. Among a number of new changes, the law addresses the long-running problem of “dead” liquor licenses. Liquor licenses typically go unused due to enforcement actions or financial...
Article
Published 07/02/2016
By Joseph H. Bucci
Industries Construction
Joe Bucci, a partner in Saul Ewing’s Construction Practice, partners with constructionchannel.net to provide an update on the month’s most impactful court decisions related to the construction industry. In this month’s edition, Joe reviews five decisions and explains the significance of each outcome. To read the full article, click here .
Article
Published 07/01/2016
Article
Published 07/01/2016
To read the complete article, please click here .
Books
Published 2016
By Joel R. Burcat and Ayanna M. Lee-Davis
Industries Energy | Energy Extraction
Services Environmental
Joel Burcat, partner and chair of Saul Ewing’s Energy Extraction Practice, co-authored a chapter in the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s 8th Annual Oil and Gas Law Colloquium. The book features information on the latest legal issues facing energy practitioners in Pennsylvania. Joel’s chapter focuses on litigation updates including summaries of significant cases decided between 2015 and 2016. To read the chapter, click here .
Alert
Published 06/30/2016
Services Intellectual Property
Summary The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a decision in BASCOM Global Internet Services, Inc., v. AT&T Mobility LLC , No. 2015-1763 (Fed. Cir. June 27, 2016) finding that asserted content-filtering system claims are not ineligible for patent protection, and vacating a district court’s order dismissing a complaint for patent infringement. The Federal Circuit held that claims directed to “a specific, discrete implementation of the abstract idea of filtering content” are patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101 and the framework as set forth in the Supreme Court’s...
Article
Published 06/30/2016
By Dasha G. Brockmeyer
Services Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation | Tax
Dasha G. Brockmeyer, an associate in the Tax, Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice, co-authored on this article about the impact of new final fiduciary regulations on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and HSA service providers. In particular, the article focuses on whether HSA service providers are subject to the new fiduciary rule and, if they are, necessary steps that they need to take to comply with it. The regulations were recently issued by the U.S. Department of Labor. The article was published in the ECFC Flex Reporter , a quarterly publication produced by the Employers Council on...
Blog Post
Published 06/30/2016
Blog Post
Published 06/30/2016
Alert
Published 06/29/2016
Services Real Estate Services
Summary With the legislative session drawing to a close, Delaware Governor Jack Markell has signed into law the annual amendments to the General Corporation Law and the Alternative Entity Statutes. In addition to more technical changes, the General Corporation Law was amended to ease the burden on corporations in connection with appraisal rights. The new amendments also clarify the “intermediate-form” merger process. The amendments to the LLC Act and the LP Act, which largely track one another, include the elimination of the default rule that consent must be in writing, as well as provisions...