Legal & Regulatory Issues

Information technology costs for the federal exchange website, HealthCare.gov, through the month of October could reach $677 million, according to a report from The Hill.

HHS is in the process of hand-matching individuals to insurance companies to remedy thousands of flawed enrollment transmissions from HealthCare.gov to health insurers, according to a report from The Hill.

Hospitals and health systems should not be punished for trusting the advice of qualified legal counsel when determining the legality of a transaction under the Stark Law, according to a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the American Hospital Association and the…

Faxton-St. Luke's Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center, both in Utica, N.Y., have settled antitrust concerns with the state of New York, allowing the two financially troubled hospitals to move forward with a proposed affiliation.

The former interim CFO of Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago has filed a lawsuit claiming the embattled hospital owes him almost $130,000 in unpaid salary, according to a report in Crain's Chicago Business.  

Legislation pre-filed in South Carolina's Senate would restore funding for the state's certificate of need program, funding that was vetoed by Governor Nikki Haley (R) last summer, according to a report in The Greenville News.

Although the HealthCare.gov user experience has improved significantly since October, there's no ignoring the fact that the federal health exchange site's launch was "flawed and unacceptable," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote today in a blog post.

Peoria, Ill.-based OSF Healthcare is facing a lawsuit alleging several hospitals within the system have discriminated against patients with disabilities.

The Obama administration has begun discouraging insurance brokers, enrollment counselors and health insurance exchange navigators from using paper applications to enroll people, according to an Associated Press report.

A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction temporarily preventing insurance giant UnitedHealthcare from excluding 2,200 physicians from Medicare Advantage plans in Connecticut.