"The higher rates apply to penalties assessed after Jan. 15, 2023, for violations occurring after Nov. 2, 2015. DOL rarely assesses the maximum and often waives penalties entirely for failures due to reasonable cause. But the penalty threat is an important enforcement and deterrent tool."  MORE >>

"[C]overed entities and business associates must review tracking technologies on their website and mobile app to ensure that they are consistent with HIPAA's privacy and security rules, and that business associate agreements are in place with tracking technology vendors that may receive PHI. There are several key steps that covered entities and business associates should consider in response to this [OCR bulletin]."  MORE >>

"The IRS has announced the production schedule for filing [ACA] 2022 information returns electronically through the ACA Information Returns (AIR) System, with the 2023 filing season beginning on January 13, 2023. The AIR System is used for filing Forms 1094/1095-B and 1094/1095-C.... The threshold for mandatory electronic filing with the IRS remains at 250 returns, applied separately to each type of return and to original and corrected returns."  MORE >>

"Washington State's Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Program (now called 'WA Cares') ... is again set to go into effect on July 1, 2023. WA Cares will require employers to withhold a payroll tax equal to .58 percent of certain employee wages unless the employee has provided a state-issued letter of exemption to their employer prior to July 1."  MORE >>

"The bill ... would require nearly all employers with one or more employees working in Illinois to provide paid leave. Leave would begin to accrue on January 1, 2024 ... [C]overed employers could impose a 90-day waiting period before leave may be used. With limited exceptions, all employees would be eligible to accrue leave[.]"  MORE >>

"California now makes it unlawful for employers to refuse to grant eligible employees up to five days of bereavement leave. This leave is separate from any leave required by the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).... The existing [Illinois] Child Bereavement Act was renamed the Family Bereavement Leave Act and expanded to include the death of a child, stepchild, spouse, domestic partner (whether recognized by law or designated as such by the employee), sibling, parent, in-law, grandparent, grandchild or stepparent."  MORE >>

"[A new study] reviewed public and private billing data for nonelderly patients for 2014-17 and found that 28 percent of commercially insured emergency ground transports resulted in a potential surprise bill. For nonemergency transports, surprise bills occurred 26 percent of the time.... In 2016-17, private-sector ambulances charged 38 percent more than public-sector ambulances, which resulted in 25 percent higher cost sharing for patients."  MORE >>

"The largest employer of physicians in the United States is not HCA, the VA, or Kaiser Permanente -- it's UnitedHealth Group's Optum. With at least 60,000 employed or aligned physicians across 2,000 locations in 2023, Optum has cemented itself at the forefront of the quickly changing healthcare delivery landscape.... From 2019 to 2022, corporate-owned practices grew 86 percent while corporate employment of physicians grew 43 percent[.]"  MORE >>

"Victims of severe storms, straight-line winds, and tornadoes beginning January 12, 2023, now have until May 15, 2023, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments ... [I]ndividuals and households affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, and tornadoes that reside or have a business in Butts, Henry, Jasper, Meriwether, Newton, Spalding, and Troup counties qualify for tax relief."  MORE >>