Articles by Dianne K. Pledgie

 Each year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) releases a Work Plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The Work Plan summarizes new and ongoing reviews and activities that the OIG plans to pursue with respect to HHS programs and operations during…

On December 13, 2016, President Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act.  While the law affects many aspects of the health care industry, including reforms to federal policy on mental health care, drug approvals, and increased funding for medical research, the most important change for many federally qualified health centers…

If you have been overwhelmed by the number of HIPAA settlement announcements recently, you are not alone.  Over the past sixteen months, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced seventeen HIPAA settlements.  Many of the settlements identified more than one potential violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability…

If, as we near the end of 2016, your health center has a lot of unaccomplished items on its compliance work plan or “to do” list, it may be time to develop a staff-level Compliance Committee. In most health centers it is not feasible for the compliance officer to be…

Attorneys from FTLF’s health care practice group will be presenting at educational sessions during the NACHC 2016 FOM-IT conference from Thursday, November 3 and Friday November 4 in Las Vegas, NV. The training will address various topics, such as HIPAA, HRSA operational site visits, managed care, and more. Presenting FTLF attorneys…