As previously discussed, on April 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a process for inquiries to be submitted to OIG about whether administrative enforcement discretion would be provided for certain arrangements directly connected to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). OIG established this process to provide regulatory flexibility to ensure necessary care responding to COVID-19, particularly with respect to the federal anti-kickback statute (AKS) and civil monetary penalty (CMP) beneficiary inducement prohibition provisions. OIG responses are publicly available through a frequently asked questions (FAQ) posting on the OIG COVID-19 portal. OIG has continued to update this FAQ since its initial publication, including the recent inquiry discussed in our May 17 post, providing guidance on the following question:

“Would the offer or provision of cash, cash-equivalent, or in-kind incentives or rewards to Federal health care program beneficiaries who receive COVID-19 vaccinations during the public health emergency violate OIG’s administrative enforcement authorities?”

A broad range of entities are offering a wide variety of incentives and rewards from food and beverages, tickets to concerts and baseball games, cash, to even State sponsored exclusive lottery tickets, to individuals who receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Because effective, expeditious, and widespread vaccine administration is crucial to the COVID-19 pandemic response, OIG has concluded that because certain incentives and rewards may promote broader access to and uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations, these incentives do not violate OIG’s administrative enforcement authorities.

A partnership comprised of funds managed The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman will make a majority investment in Medline Industries, according to a news release.

Medline, based in Northfield, Ill., is a manufacturer and distributor of healthcare supplies. The company reported 2020 revenue of $17.5 billion.

The Blackstone Group,…

Yesterday, the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split on the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA) in a decision that emphasizes the importance of how organizations manage access to their systems.  Employees with access to information at work sometimes access that information with improper motives, and in violation of office policies.  This inappropriate use of access has led to federal criminal prosecution for some.  In Van Buren v. United States, No. 19-783, the United States Supreme Court held that the CFAA is not properly applied to justify those prosecutions.

Nathan Van Buren was a police officer who accepted $6,000 from Andrew Albo, a participant in an FBI sting operation, to search a police database to determine whether a woman Albo professed interest in was an undercover police officer.  Van Buren ran a search for the woman’s license plate in the Georgia Crime Information Center database.  For doing so, Van Buren was charged and convicted of violating the CFAA, because he had “exceeded” his authority to access that database.

Grant Avenue Capital has announced it acquired a majority interest in QHR Health from Quorum Health Corp.

QHR Health, based in Brentwood, Tenn., provides solutions to independent hospitals and health systems. Founded in 1977, these solutions and services include management advisory services, revenue cycle management, supply chain optimization, outsourced IT services and strategic consulting.…

McGuireWoods has long been an avid supporter of the advancement of professional women. As part of our initiative seeking to expand the leadership of women in private equity, we are continuing our series of profiling women leaders in private equity. We are hopeful that this series will serve to inspire other women to pursue their…

On January 21, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published proposed modifications to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH), discussed in a previous McGuireWoods’ post. The comment period for these proposals recently ended on May 6, 2021, and HHS received almost 1500 comments from interested stakeholders. If finalized, these proposals will require HIPAA-covered entities and business associates to implement many changes, including updates to their policies, procedures, security standards, notices of privacy practices, authorization and disclosure forms, and business associate agreements. In the age of digital targeting and ransomware, possibly the most important of these is a change to security standards.

The Vistria Group has announced the recapitalization and a growth investment in Medalogix and Muse Healthcare.

Medalogix, based in Nashville, Tenn., is a data science company focused exclusively on home health and hospice.

Muse Healthcare, based in Shoreview, Minn., is a data science company that provides analytics designed to support hospice patient transitions.…

The SEC filed SEC v. Silver in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York on April 13, 2021, claiming Defendant Silver orchestrated and carried out a string of frauds to cover up tens of millions of dollars in losses on bad bets to keep his investment advisory business afloat. Specifically, the complaint alleges violations of Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933.

Defendant Silver was the co-founder, managing partner, and chief operating officer of his business, International Investment Group LLC (“IIG”), which specialized in advising clients in investments in emerging market economies. IIG formed three private funds with stated strategies of investing trade finance loans marketed to qualified institutional investors.