Client Alerts

Michigan property owners will be receiving their real property tax Notice of Assessment form within the next few weeks. Many property owners may find that they are being assessed using inflated taxable values if they have not appealed their property taxes over the last several years.

On February 2, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), published the fourth 6-month extension of its moratorium freezing enrollment of new Home Health Agencies (“HHA”) and Ambulance Suppliers in federal healthcare programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP. The initial moratorium was effective January 30, 2014 and was extended an additional 6 months in July 2014 and in January 2015 and July 2015.

A Changing Landscape: The federal government has made clear that its expectations for effective business ethics and compliance programs have changed.

Late yesterday, the U S Supreme Court rejected a national group health plan’s quest for reimbursement of $120,000 in plan-paid medical expenses from a participant’s general assets, after the participant (injured in an auto accident) spent the $500,000 in settlement monies he had received from the driver at fault. Montanile v. Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Care Fund, Sup. Ct. No. 14-723 (1.20.2016).

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

~ Benjamin Franklin

When every dollar counts for an organization, particularly in a fragile recovering economy, modest proactive compliance expenditures can reduce the risk of substantial fines and costs. With the New Year, healthcare providers and most private and public employers face a new round of compliance efforts under a seemingly “alphabet soup” of regulations and regulators: HIPAA, ACA, ERISA, IRS (Tax Code), CMS, HHS, DOL, SEC and countless others. With an apparent never-ending to-do list, maintaining your organization’s commitment to compliance can be daunting.

Effective January 1, 2016 the minimum wage in Michigan will increase to $8.50 per hour. This is the second of the graduated increases in the minimum wage enacted in 2014 by the Michigan Legislature.

On November 2, 2015, the Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”), Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued the 2016 Work Plan detailing new and ongoing OIG audits, evaluations, and certain legal and investigative initiatives related to HHS programs and operations. In its 80-page Work Plan, the OIG details sixty-eight (68) New or Revised Initiatives that it will add to its ongoing reviews. With over 180 identified initiatives, the Work Plan is a must read for anyone participating in HHS-related programs, as it provides a glance at the current focus of the OIG 2016 to assist healthcare providers and suppliers in their compliance efforts.

IRS Regulations and State Action Provide Financial Planning Opportunity for People with Disabilities and their Families

The Internal Revenue Service has recently announced whether there will be cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations for retirement plans (and other items) for 2016. Many of the limitations will not change for 2016 because the increase in the cost-of-living index did not meet the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment.

Using telephone, text messages or FAX messages to communicate with your patients just got a little less risky, but you have to do it “just right” to avoid violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). This has important operational implications for HIPAA covered entities—providers, insurers, and your business associates. Here’s how.  

Every fall, many employers which sponsor welfare benefit plans start to turn their attention to renewing benefits for the upcoming year. As a result, the open enrollment season provides the perfect opportunity to ensure certain welfare benefit legal requirements are kept up to speed: plan documents and summary plan descriptions; annual notices; and nondiscrimination testing.

On August 31, 2015, EPA proposed a rule pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to create new management standards for discarded pharmaceuticals which are regulated as hazardous wastes. The rule will apply to pharmacies, hospitals, doctors’ offices and other health care facilities as well as reverse distributors and treatment, storage and disposal facilities that handle hazardous pharmaceuticals.

Antidumping and countervailing duty petitions are a powerful weapon for U.S. industries that find themselves materially injured by dumped or subsidized imports This was illustrated most recently on August 10th, when the US Department of Commerce issued a final order imposing countervailing duties on certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires (“PVLT Tires”) imported from China1.

Question: Is the Department of Labor going to make more employees eligible for overtime premium pay?

Answer: Yes. The DOL has proposed revised Fair Labor Standards Act regulations that would convert many employees who are currently “exempt” under the executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) exemptions into “non-exempt” employees.

In December 2012, the State of Michigan enacted separate right-to-work statutes for the private sector, Public Act 348, and the public sector, Public Act 349. Michigan became the 24th right-to-work state at that time. Since then, labor unions have filed lawsuits to invalidate the right-to-work statutes.

Valuation discounts are commonly used in business planning. When transferring an interest in a corporation, LLC or partnership, the value of such interest can be discounted if it is a minority interest in the business or if there are any restrictions imposed on the owner in making subsequent transfers of the interest in the business. In the context of estate planning, valuation discounts play an important role in limiting the value of amounts transferred to family members through gift or sales transactions when using family LLCs or family limited partnerships.

The Michigan Court of Appeals in Pransky v. Falcon Group Inc. held that under Michigan’s Uniform Securities Act, MCL 451.2101 et seq. (“Securities Act”), finders, as defined in the Securities Act, are not required to register with the state as a “broker-dealer,” “agent” or “investment advisor.” While the Pransky Court seems to give finders a reason to rejoice, finders should remain wary since the holding in Pransky is severely limited by the facts of the case. Further, at the federal level, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has maintained its position that transaction-based compensation, the most typical compensation arrangement for finders, is a hallmark of broker-dealer status.

On July 28, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), will publish the third 6-month extension of its moratorium freezing enrollment of new Home Health Agencies (“HHA”) and Ambulance Suppliers in federal healthcare programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP. The initial moratorium was effective January 30, 2014 and extended an additional 6 months in July 2014 and again in January 2015. A similar moratorium has been in place for HHAs in areas surrounding Chicago and Miami since July 2013.

Technological innovation and the world of connectivity are moving rapidly, leaving legislators and proposed legislation far behind. The “Internet of Things”—from smart refrigerators to gadgets that sit aside our foreheads and zap us to be restful or alert—includes our increasingly “smart” cars. Automobiles are now mobile devices capable of transmitting and receiving data, whether running or not. Whether a component manufacturer to an EOM or a digital provider streaming content into the vehicle, you are now on notice: new concerns surround vehicle hacking that may put drivers—and vehicle suppliers—at risk.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued a formal decision in a federal sector case finding that discrimination based on sexual orientation is a form of illegal “sex discrimination” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The case, Complainant v. Foxx, E.E.O.C., No. 0120133080, issued July 16, 2015, found that “[s]exual orientation discrimination is sex discrimination because it necessarily entails treating an employee less favorably because of the employee's sex.” Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees.