Health Care Law Blog
Foster Swift lawyers were well represented at the Annual Meeting of the State Bar of Michigan's Health Care Law Section held on September 19th. Gilbert Frimet, Gary McRay, Jennifer Kildea Dewane, and Nicole Stratton, members of Foster Swift Health Care Law Practice Group, all traveled to Detroit to attend the meeting.
With the United States Supreme Court having ruled that nearly all of the provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) are constitutional, employers are legally obligated to comply with PPACA's requirements. One such requirement of particular interest to employers is the employee health insurance exchange notice requirement.
The Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine have proposed amendments to the administrative rules governing the delegation of prescribing authority to physician assistants. Under the existing rules, a physician may only delegate to physician assistants the authority to prescribe controlled substances that are listed in the Federal Drug and Enforcement Administration’s (“DEA’s”) Schedules 3 to 5. The proposed amendments would eliminate that limitation and allow physicians to authorize physician assistants to prescribe Schedule 2 controlled substances.
Governor Rick Snyder in a press conference this morning proposed a total overhaul of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan ("BCBSM"). Governor Snyder's proposal would:
- covert BCBSM to a non-profit mutual company;
- end its tax exemption; and
- remove Attorney General review of requested rates.
In essence, Michigan would treat BCBSM as it would any other health insurer as BCBSM would be regulated by the Insurance Code. While this proposal may seem drastic, it is not surprising given recent regulation orders by the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation ("OFIR") curtailing BCBSM's use of most favored nation clauses ("MFN Clauses") and rejecting the low rates that it charges to hospitals and other providers.
On August 31, 2012, a federal district court ruled that the Michigan Health Insurance Claims Assessment Act is not preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The act imposes a 1% tax on paid health insurance claims for services rendered in Michigan to residents of Michigan. The tax is assessed against commercial insurers, HMOs, nonprofit health and dental corporations, Medicaid managed care organizations, specialty prepaid health plans, third-party administrators, and group health plan sponsors. The act, which took effect on January 1, 2012 and expires on December 31, 2013, authorizes the state to collect up to $400 million in revenues each year, which are used to fund the Michigan state share of the Medicaid program. When combined with the federal multiplier, the tax will generate $2.4 billion in funding for Michigan’s Medicaid program.
