Healthcare Staffing Shortages Due to COVID-19: Licensure, Credentialing, Reimbursement, Employment Considerations
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
- work Practice Area
Health
- event Date
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE course will guide healthcare counsel addressing the staffing shortages that many hospitals and healthcare providers are facing. The panel will discuss licensing and credentialing issues relating to the reallocation of physician and provider resources. The panel will also address billing and reimbursement challenges as well as malpractice considerations. The panel will offer best practices for meeting staffing needs in an evolving environment.
Mr. Glasser’s practice focuses on the representation of leading companies and firms, including publishing and media companies, financial services institutions, and law firms, in all areas of labor and employment relations. His experience includes defending clients in employment litigation in federal and state court, and in arbitration tribunals involving claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation and breach of contract, among others.
Ms. Fingold’s practice focuses largely on the regulation of Medicare managed care (including Medicare Advantage, Part D, dual eligibles, PACE, demonstrations), Medicaid managed care, commercial managed care products (including surprise billing), and behavioral health (including mental health parity). Her clients range from small start-ups to large corporate entities with multiple subsidiaries. They include Medicare Advantage, PACE, Medicaid, and other managed care plans; provider entities; vendors to providers and managed care companies (including administrative support entities, providers of software and online services, agents/brokers/field marketing organizations, and advertising/marketing entities). Before building her private practice, Ms. Fingold gained 20 years of experience in the federal government: 13 years at CMS, working on Medicaid, Medicare Advantage/Part D, and ACA implementation, and seven years at MedPAC.
Ms. O’Rourke partners with healthcare organizations, boards of directors and executive management teams to solve their greatest regulatory challenges and advance their strategic, financial and operational goals. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. O’Rourke was Associate General Counsel of Ascension and served in legal roles of increasing responsibility for the $23 billion health enterprise. As a partner in the firm’s health practice, Ms. O’Rourke continues to serve as lead outside counsel to health systems, hospitals and hospital associations. Clients and industry experts also rely on Ms. O’Rourke to engage with their key stakeholders on topics including the impact of new legislation on health systems and hospitals, board oversight of health system compliance and inclusionary leadership. Her insight and commentary have been featured by Modern Healthcare, Bloomberg Law, Law360 and other leading legal and industry publications.
While COVID-19 has impacted everyone, hospitals, healthcare providers, and first responders serve on the front lines to battle the coronavirus. Many hospitals and other healthcare entities are overcapacity with COVID-19 patients and do not have sufficient physicians and providers with necessary experience with ventilator management to provide continuous care. Additionally, as healthcare professionals and personnel are unable to work because of COVID-19 infection and are struggling with the toll of around the clock staffing, hospitals are turning to physicians who have the skills and capacity due to the lack of elective procedures. Healthcare providers and their counsel must be aware of issues such as licensing and reimbursement, as well as the various employment laws that regulate the workplace.
Every U.S. state has declared a state of emergency and the majority have eased or modified restrictions regarding the delivery of medical care. Some states are permitting out-of-state practitioners, including retired professionals or those whose license is currently inactive, to practice. Hospitals and healthcare providers must understand the licensing and credentialing requirements within each state they are providing medical services. There are also numerous employment considerations for organizations seeking to prevent shortages and bring in supplemental workers.
Some states are allowing medical students nearing graduation to provide medical care. Some are permitting physician assistants to provide services without the usual supervision requirements, while others have waived nurse collaboration and patient-ratio requirements.
CMS has activated blanket waivers of some Medicare and Medicaid requirements to allow for flexibility in responding to COVID-19. CMS and many states have issued Section 1135 waivers to make it easier to reimburse healthcare providers. Some commercial payors are revising their requirements to allow out-of-state, retired, or inactive-license healthcare providers to bill for their services and receive reimbursement.
Listen as our authoritative panel of healthcare attorneys examines considerations hospitals and healthcare providers should address when dealing with staffing shortages due to COVID-19. The panel will discuss licensure, billing, reimbursement, and malpractice.
- Licensing, credentialing, and privileging
- Billing and reimbursement
- Malpractice considerations
The panel will review these and other crucial issues:
- To what extent can out-of-state practitioners, retired practitioners, or those with inactive licenses from other states provide services in each state?
- Can providers be reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid, commercial insurers, or other payers for services provided by out-of-state or retired practitioners or those with inactive licenses?
- Are retired practitioners or those with inactive licenses shielded from malpractice liability?
- What are the legal considerations relating to reallocation of physicians within a facility and between facilities?
- What protections are available for reallocated physicians and what are the main risks?
- What employment issues should providers consider in responding to, or trying to limit, staffing shortages?
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