A stumble in a corn maze, an injury at a pumpkin patch, or a fall from a farm-tour wagon can turn fall fun into an immunity dispute. Peter Carman says the answer may lie in a warning sign, a ticket receipt, or who controlled the attraction — evidence that can disappear with the season.
Continue Reading Corn Mazes, Pumpkin Patches, and Farm Tours: When Is a Wisconsin Farm Liable for Visitor Injuries?

When business owners think about legal risk, they often think about big events: lawsuits, ownership disputes, business sales, or regulatory investigations. The irony is that the legal issues that tend to create the greatest disruption begin long before any of those big events. This post is the first in a three-part series based on a simple observation: many business risks stay invisible until someone has a reason to look for them. In this first part, we’ll look at how…
Continue Reading Legal Problems Rarely Start as Legal Problems

On November 5, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released a sweeping proposed rule aimed at reducing administrative requirements across Medicare- and Medicaid-participating providers. The proposed Cutting Administrative Requirements for Excellence in Patient Care (“CARE”) rule would revise numerous Conditions of Participation and Requirements for Participation. For skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”), the proposal includes several significant changes involving respiratory illness reporting, COVID-19 vaccination requirements, transfer and discharge notices, facility assessments, physical environment standards and Medicaid payment…
Continue Reading Skilled Nursing Update: CMS Proposes Significant Regulatory Relief for Skilled Nursing Facilities

On November 4, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued the Calendar Year (“CY”) 2027 Home Health Prospective Payment System Final Rule (“Final Rule”). Although the Final Rule primarily addresses Medicare payment and policy requirements for home health agencies, CMS also finalized several changes to the Medicare provider enrollment requirements. CMS states that most of these new enrollment provisions apply to all provider types enrolled in the Medicare program, including skilled nursing facilities (“SNFs”).
Retroactive Revocations…
Continue Reading Skilled Nursing Update: Skilled Nursing Facilities Should Take Note of Medicare Enrollment Changes in CY 2027 Home Health Final Rule

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Court”) recently issued a memorandum opinion highlighting circumstances where compensated marketing conduct may fall outside the scope of Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) liability. United States v. Gray, No. 3:24-CR-0250-S (N.D. Tex. Sept. 18, 2026). Specifically, the Court ordered a new trial after concluding that the evidence presented at trial did not support a finding that a laboratory’s marketing arrangement improperly influenced physician decision-making in violation of the AKS…
Continue Reading Recent Decision Examines the Boundaries of Anti-Kickback Statute Liability for Marketing Arrangements

  • A recent Modern Healthcare article opined on the expected impact on health care resulting from the Democrats’ new congressional majorities. Key takeaways: (1) expect efforts to roll back 2025 Medicaid reductions and restore ACA marketplace subsidies; (2) there will likely be increased oversight of consolidation and hospital pricing; and (3) sweeping legislative changes are unlikely, given President Trump’s veto.
  • A recent report indicated that higher-acuity MOBs, including properties with surgery centers, urgent care, freestanding EDs and specialized infrastructure, command

    • …
    Continue Reading Weekly Hospital Real Estate Briefing: California Seismic Deadline Fuels Cost Increase | Hartford Buys Former Sam’s Club | High-Acuity MOBs Command Rent Premium

    Independent sales representatives—commonly referred to as “reps”—play a critical role in the success of many businesses. For manufacturers, distributors, and other companies that rely on independent sales channels, reps provide access to customers, develop relationships, generate revenue, and help businesses expand into new markets. In return, reps receive commissions on the sales they generate.

    At its best, this relationship is a classic win-win arrangement. The company, or “principal,” benefits from the rep’s sales efforts without incurring the costs associated…
    Continue Reading Independent Sales Representatives: When Win-Win Becomes ‘Heads I Win, Tails You Lose’

    A recent Court of Appeals decision underscores the importance of ensuring defendants receive every benefit promised in a plea deal and of defense attorneys remaining vigilant to ensure that agreement breaches are appropriately addressed.The decision involves the difference between a charge dismissed outright as part of a plea agreement and a charge dismissed but then “read in” for purposes of sentencing.

    In Lemar C. Newell, Jr.’s case, at the plea hearing the prosecutor told Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge…
    Continue Reading Court of Appeals Orders Do-over for Sentence Tainted by ‘Read-in’ Charge

    In a July 21, 2026, announcement, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) granted the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) federal health care program exclusion authority under the Social Security Act. On October 13, 2026, the delegation was formalized, and on October 14, 2026, CMS announced it. Exclusion exists to remove “bad actors” from federal health care programs, and the authority was previously limited to the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) under delegated authority. This…
    Continue Reading Force Multiplier: HHS Grants CMS Permissive Exclusion Authority

    Tags, As I already noted, the default bittorrent client in Xubuntu, transmission, is not working. From what I could gather, the problem had to do with how the apparmor profile for transmission was set up. Figuring out how to fix the apparmor profile, however, was not that easy. I tried one possible solution, but that did not fix anything: the same DRI3 error continued to pop up. Searching through transmission bug reports led…
    Continue Reading Transmission fix in Xubuntu 26.04

    During oral arguments in October, the prosecutor-heavy Wisconsin Supreme Court appeared quite skeptical of an intermediate appeals court decision overturning a guilty verdict for ineffective assistance of counsel.

    Last year, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reversed a Columbia County man’s conviction for both delivery of heroin and first-degree reckless homicide by delivery of heroin after the man’s attorney, the prosecutor, and the judge all failed to appreciate and timely instruct a jury that the two charges were in fact…
    Continue Reading Prosecutor-heavy Supreme Court Appears Inclined to Overlook Serious Defense Counsel Error

    In an unusual move, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), rather than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), announced the availability of an interim enforcement policy in the Federal Register on October 30, 2026 (91 Fed. Reg. 68,526), addressing compounding with six peptide bulk drug substances. The policy provides limited enforcement discretion for certain pharmacies and physicians pending final rulemaking on the substances’ inclusion on the federal “503A Bulks List.” Issuance by HHS itself departs…
    Continue Reading HHS, Not FDA, Takes the Lead on Peptide Compounding

    Many dentists devote significant time and energy to building successful practices but spend little time planning for what would happen if they became disabled or unexpectedly passed away. While most practice owners understand the importance of a will or trust, fewer realize how closely their personal estate plan and professional practice plan should work together.

    For dental professionals, a practice is often one of their most valuable assets. Without proper planning, an unexpected event can leave family members, business…
    Continue Reading Estate Planning for Dental Practice Owners: Protecting More Than Your Family

    When business partners stop agreeing on how to run their company, the dispute rarely stays confined to the boardroom. The success of a limited liability company (LLC) in Michigan often depends as much on the relationship among its owners as it does the business itself. When disputes arise over management authority, financial decisions, fiduciary obligations, or a member’s exit from the company, they can quickly escalate into full-blown legal disputes, threatening operations, profitability, and long-term business viability.

    For Michigan…
    Continue Reading Michigan LLC Member Disputes: Common Causes and Resolution Strategies

    On October 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Civil Division and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) launched the Healthcare False Claims Act Self-Disclosure Pilot Program (“FCA SDPP” or “Program”), a six-month pilot program designed to provide eligible health care entities with a pathway to voluntarily disclose potential False Claims Act (“FCA”) violations and obtain a coordinated civil resolution with both DOJ and HHS. The Program is available to qualifying disclosures submitted by April …
    Continue Reading A Limited Window and Lower Multiplier: DOJ and HHS Launch New FCA Self-Disclosure Pilot Program

    For this week’s blog post, I am highlighting a yearly legal conference for Wisconsin Lawyers to engage in a multi-day event offering breakout sessions, dine-arounds, plenaries, and networking opportunities, with options for both in-person attendance and virtual participation: The Wisconsin Solo and Small Firm Conference.
    The State Bar of Wisconsin’s WSSFC provides opportunities to earn numerous credits of CLE’s, network with attorneys in the community, learn about different legal resources by visiting different exhibitor tables, and of course,…
    Continue Reading Big Lessons, Small Firms: Why the WSSFC Matters from a Young Attorney’s Perspective