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David Stoltzfus Joins Hall Render as a Shareholder
By Hall Render
Hall Render is pleased to announce that David Stoltzfus has joined the Firm as a Shareholder in its Washington, D.C. office.
Dave is a health care antitrust attorney who advises hospitals, health systems, physicians and other providers on federal and state antitrust matters affecting transactions, investigations and business operations. He represents clients in mergers and other civil antitrust matters before the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice and counsels organizations on the application of antitrust laws…
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CMS Proposes Changes to Graduate Medical Education in 2027 IPPS Proposed Rule
By Hall Render
On April 14, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published the Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“IPPS”) Proposed Rule (the “Proposed Rule”), which can be found here. Among other things, the Proposed Rule would make updates to Graduate Medical Education (“GME”) policies for teaching hospitals under the Medicare program. These updates include (i) modifications to the criteria by which a program is deemed a “new program” for Medicare funding purposes; (ii) clarification…
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Indiana Medicaid Seeks Moratorium for ABA Provider Enrollment
By Hall Render
Indiana Medicaid’s effort to rein in Applied Behavior Analysis (“ABA”) therapy costs has led to a proposed moratorium on provider enrollment. On May 7, 2026, the Indiana Health Coverage Programs (“IHCP”) announced it is seeking approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) to implement the statewide provider enrollment moratorium, beginning June 6, 2026, for both new ABA therapy group enrollments, as well as changes of ownership for existing ABA therapy agencies. If approved, the moratorium will…
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CMS Moratorium on New Medicare Home Health and Hospice Enrollment
By Hall Render
On May 13, 2026, as part of its ongoing effort to address home health and hospice fraud, the Trump administration announced a 6-month moratorium on new Home Health and Hospice enrollment, effective immediately. The federal register notice for home health and hospice is set to be published on May 15, 2026. In general, the moratorium will not impact the following providers:
- Newly enrolling home health and hospice agencies that submitted their Medicare applications prior to May 13, 2026;
- Changes
…
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FDA Issues RFI on AI-Enabled Optimization of Early-Phase Clinical Trials Pilot Program
By Hall Render
On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA” or the “Agency”) issued a Request for Information (“RFI”) seeking stakeholder input on a proposed pilot program evaluating the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) to optimize early-phase clinical trials.
The initiative is intended to assess how AI-enabled technologies “can improve efficiency, speed and quality of decision-making” in Phase I and early Phase II clinical trial development, including through enhanced patient selection, dose optimization, safety monitoring and earlier go/no-go…
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FDA Moves Toward Real-Time Clinical Trial Modernization
By Hall Render
On April 28, 2026, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) announced additional steps in its ongoing initiative to advance real-time clinical trial approaches, including proof-of-concept studies and a request for information supporting a planned pilot program focused on real-time or near-real-time clinical trial data capture and review (the “Announcement”).
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H., stated:
“For 60 years, we’ve been conducting clinical trials in the same way, where key data signals can take years to reach the…
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Weekly Hospital Real Estate Briefing: Five Children’s Hospital Projects to Watch
By Hall Render
Recently, we have seen a surge in new children’s hospital projects across the country. Our team is currently working on multiple new free-standing children’s hospital projects that will have a significant impact on pediatric care in several states. These projects often include joint ventures between children’s hospitals and academic medical centers.
Below is a summary of five children’s hospital projects that are noteworthy.
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Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Panel Grants Stay in Case Challenging FDA Regulation of Mifepristone
By Hall Render
UPDATE: Shortly after this alert was published, the Supreme Court granted an administrative stay of the Fifth Circuit’s order. This means that, while the Supreme Court reviews Danco’s and GenBioPro’s emergency requests that the Fifth Circuit’s stay be vacated, mifepristone is available under the 2023 REMS, which permits dispensing of mifepristone directly to patients by certain pharmacies, including by certain mail-order pharmacies. We will continue to follow this litigation and will provide further updates as they are available.
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Weekly Hospital Real Estate Briefing: More Land Banking | Hartford Hospital Plans $950M Tower | CaroMont Invests $200M in Oncology Services
By Hall Render
From Transaction to Transformation: Leveraging M&A to Optimize Health Care Supply Chains
By Hall Render
The U.S. health care industry continues to experience consolidation, with steady merger and acquisition activity (“M&A”) aimed at improving quality, expanding patient access and reducing costs by leveraging economies of scale. These transactions present a unique opportunity to undergo a strategic analysis of an often overlooked, but vitally important area: the supply chain.
Integrating two previously independent supply chains can be challenging from multiple perspectives, particularly given differing processes, levels of integration, existing vendor relationships and operational philosophies. These…
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Weekly Hospital Real Estate Briefing: Bruno Mars Donates $1M Towards Children’s Hospital Project | Florida Makes Headlines with New Hospital Projects
By Hall Render
Equity Transaction or Asset Transaction? Looks May Be Deceiving
By Hall Render
When equity interests in a passthrough entity are sold, such transaction documents are often described as “partnership interest purchase agreements,” “membership interest purchase agreements” or “equity purchase agreements.” However, under U.S. federal income tax rules, a transaction that is legally structured as an equity purchase can sometimes be treated (in whole or in part) as an asset purchase—whether by default, election or sometimes as the result of post-closing actions.
Occasionally, this discrepancy is overlooked until just before closing, which…
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FY 2027 IPPS Proposed Rule – Changes to Organ Acquisition and Reasonable Cost Payment Policies
By Hall Render
On April 14, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published the fiscal year (FY) 2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule (the “Proposed Rule”) in the Federal Register, which included several proposals that would affect organ acquisition reimbursement policies for Independent Organ Procurement Organizations (“IOPOs”), as well as Organ Procurement Organizations (“OPOs”) more broadly, histocompatibility laboratories (“HCLs”) and transplant hospitals. Although CMS characterizes some of the changes as codifying longstanding policy, others substantively alter how…
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Eighth Circuit Limits Whistleblower Protection for Remote Employee in Multi-State Employment Arrangement
By Hall Render
On March 26, 2026, the Eighth Circuit, in Ghosh v. Abbott Lab’ys, Inc., 170 F.4th 1141 (8th Cir. 2026), affirmed the dismissal of whistleblower claims brought by a remote employee whose connections to Minnesota, where the employer was located, consisted of a 12-day visit to the state to participate in mandatory training.
Case Background
The plaintiff in this case was a Hawaii resident, who was hired by defendants in early 2023 as a district sales manager. Upon hire, the…
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CMS Proposes Resurrection and Nationwide Expansion of Mandatory Joint Replacement Bundled Payment Model (CJR-X)
By Hall Render
The first nationwide test of a mandatory episode-based payment model has been unveiled. In the Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“IPPS”) Proposed Rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) proposes resurrecting and expanding the original Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (“CJR”) Model to establish a mandatory, nationwide episode-based payment model for most hospitals paid under the IPPS beginning October 1, 2027.
Under the proposed model, known as the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement…
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