GOVERNMENTAL ADVOCACY FOR HEALTHCARE, TAX & MEDICARE COMPLIANCE POLICY
Healthcare, tax and medicare compliance policies change rapidly, making it difficult for companies to monitor and react swiftly to how evolving regulations affect their business. This changing legislative landscape has a significant impact on organizations’ bottom line. For healthcare and nonprofit clients, Armory Hill Advocates carefully monitors legislative trends and implications that could impact clients’ interests. Working as an extension of our clients’ team, we build relationships at the state and federal levels to affect change. We believe every company should have a voice and the opportunity to inform public policy. Armory Hill Advocates is the voice that helps extend your reach. Read more about how Armory Hill Advocates have successfully impacted healthcare and nonprofit organizations.
NOTABLE INTERVIEWS
Understand Hospice Audit Types, Processes to Boost Compliance
Hospice News interviews Jon Rawlson, founder and president of Armory Hill Advocates, LLC and Jennifer Weaver, attorney and healthcare industry co-chair at national healthcare law firm, Holland & Knight (formerly Waller) Hospices have seen a spike in regulatory audits that could intensify as utilization rises. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), their contractors and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have been digging deeper into the hospice space in recent years, and many hospices are working to strengthen compliance in case auditors come knocking. As utilization climbs, so does the amount of dollars CMS spends on hospice care, spurring agencies to step up enforcement in an effort to control costs. Medicare hospice expenditures rise by about $1 billion annually, according to CMS. This impetus is coupled with investigative reports from OIG identifying both serious quality concerns and vulnerabilities in the system when it comes to billing and reimbursement. In the aftermath of these investigations, hospices have found themselves under more intense scrutiny while navigating survey reform and enhanced oversight. Even if auditors do not find deficiencies or violations, the audit process can be a very time-consuming and expensive process for providers, particularly in terms of personnel work hours. “CMS auditors often look for every little error. If they see a pattern of errors, then their antenna goes way up, and it causes them to say,‘Okay, we’ve got a provider here that isn’t paying attention to the details that are important to the regulator,” […]
How to Navigate UPIC Audits
Holland & Knight (formerly Waller) healthcare industry team leader, Jennifer Weaver, and founder and president of Armory Hill Advocates, Jon Rawlson, discuss their work in assisting clients to navigate Unified Program Integrity Contractor (UPIC) audits. Watch the video by clicking here. Read through the transcript below: Morgan: Welcome to PointByPoint. This is Morgan Ribeiro, the firm’s Chief Business Development Officer and the host of the podcast. On today’s episode, we are joined by Jon Rawlson, founder and president of Armory Hill Advocates, a government affairs firm that represents healthcare clients in the nation’s Capital and in several state legislatures and Jennifer Weaver, Holland and Knight partner (formerly Waller) in the firm’s government investigations and litigation group. Today, we’re going to discuss the government audit landscape for healthcare providers and what they can do to safeguard their organizations, and if audited, how they can respond. Jon and Jennifer, thank you for joining us today. Jennifer: Thanks very much for having us, Morgan. Jon: It’s great to be here. Thank you. Morgan: Great. You both have extensive experience working with healthcare providers, facing government audits and investigations across the country. Before we get into the specifics of our conversation today, I would love to hear from both of you and to share with our listeners a little background about yourself and how you all came to work together. Jennifer? Jennifer: Yeah. I’ve been representing healthcare providers for over 20 years now and mostly focused on their dealings with the Department of Justice and False Claims Act […]
Hospices Seek Engagement With Policymakers
Providers need to advocate for themselves to ensure they understand what is at stake for providers and their patients, according to Jon Rawlson, founder and president of Armory Hill Advocates, LLC. “I think hospice providers always need to be on the front lines of having conversations with members of Congress on how any type of change in reimbursement methodology impacts them,” Rawlson told Hospice News. “This should encourage them to have conversations at home in the district with members of Congress and congressional staff on a regular basis. And I think the smaller the provider, the more important that conversation.” Read more by clicking on the link below. Hospices Seek Engagement With Policymakers on Payment, Regulation
Healthcare Investors of the South Conference
I recently spoke at the HITS ((Healthcare Investors of the South) Conference in May, 2022, on Regulatory and Legislative Considerations For Healthcare Investors. Panelists: Chris Meekins |Managing Director, Washington Healthcare Policy, Raymond James Jon Rawlson |President and Founder, Amory Hill Advocates Jennifer Weaver |Healthcare Industry Partner, Holland & Knight (formerly Waller) Key Takeaways from the panel include: • Congress is on a constant quest for more data, more cost reports, and more transparency, and it’s working on the assumption that things are not what they should be when that’s not the reality of the situation. • The problem for Private Equity is similar to the problem facing PBMs because they’re viewed as a black box. Private Equity doesn’t have an effective lobby like Pharma or any of the other entities in D.C., so Private Equity is easy to point a finger at. If Private Equity is not at the table, it can end up on the table. Private Equity needs to open its checkbooks and invest in lobbyists to advocate on their behalf and actively engage. • The onus is on Private Equity to be able to prove its compliance program is second to none, clinical programs are executed well and above board and are available for audit at any time. Private Equity must arm itself with sound arguments that it’s delivering the best quality care, regardless of whether it’s for profit or not for profit. “Private equity healthcare investors are under increased scrutiny from the government and whistleblowers, who […]
SUCCESS STORIES
RESTORING FEDERAL REIMBURSEMENT
U.S. House Ways & Means Committee Senate Finance Committee
Represented advanced medical imaging services to stabilize reimbursement, establish relationships with CMS and facilitate a large industry trade group
CMS UPIC COMPLIANCE AUDIT
Medicare Administrative
Contractor (MAC)
Incorporated a legal and lobbying strategy overturning $27M – within 6 months – saving over 300 jobs in the greater Nashville area.
STATE GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS
Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) Committee
Represented a coalition of compounding pharmacy companies during the drafting and final adoption of the Drug Quality and Security Act