Insights & Resources

A trailblazing decision has been issued by Judge Rakoff of the United States Federal Court for the Southern District of New York. The decision, issued on February 17, 2026, analyzes the applicability of attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine to third-party generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms.

The COVID-19 public health emergency resulted in widespread changes in the delivery of health care items and services to patients, particularly those that required “direct supervision” under Medicare Part B. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services relaxed the direct supervision requirement during the PHE to include circumstances where a physician (or other practitioner) was “immediately available” by virtual presence through two-way audio/video real-time communications technology. Effective January 1, 2026, CMS adopted this relaxed definition of direct supervision permanently for a broad category of services.

The first report issued under the new OIG Inspector General, T. March Bell, highlights the OIG’s reliance on “advanced analytical tools and the collaborative skills of its innovative, multidisciplinary workforce” to identify, prioritize, and mitigate risks.

Significant federal workforce reductions and numerous government-wide programmatic changes headlined the 2025 news cycle. Under that backdrop, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General fulfilled its annual statutory obligation by releasing its 2025 Top Management and Performance Challenges Report.

In his final days as Governor, Phil Murphy signed the “magic mushroom” bill into law. The law establishes a pilot program for three, to be selected, hospitals in the state to participate regarding administration of psilocybin to qualified patients.

Every employee separation in New Jersey, from resignations to layoffs, must now be reported electronically through the Department of Labor’s Employer Access Portal. This means employers must proactively report separations, including terminations, resignations, layoffs, retirements, and other forms of job separation – regardless of whether the employee files for unemployment benefits. 

Providers delivering behavioral and therapeutic services to New Jersey FamilyCare members must complete a new FBI fingerprint-based background check, or risk being ineligible to provide services.

Everyone has had that contract that they regret signing or was automatically renewed before they remembered to give notice to terminate. Vendor contracts have a way of lingering long after their usefulness has expired, mainly because vendors have every incentive to prolong a lucrative relationship. In health care especially, organizations often find themselves locked into agreements that no longer reflect operational benefits, integrate fully with current systems/technology, or meet budget priorities, yet seem nearly impossible to escape unscathed.

On February 18, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed a civil RICO action brought by Roosevelt Road Re, Ltd. and Tradesman Program Managers, LLC, against a personal injury law firm and various medical providers arising out of workers’ compensation claims after considering a motion by Garfunkel Wild and other law firms on behalf of our clients and the other defendants.

In this Health Care Information and Technology Podcast, we discuss the top three health care IT contract mistakes that medical providers make and how to avoid them.

The New York Medical Aid in Dying Act has been passed by the Legislature and was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul on February 6, 2026, after the addition of specific guardrails negotiated between executive and legislative leaders.

Garfunkel Wild will be a sponsor at the eCap Healthcare Summit 2026 in Miami, Florida from February 9-11, 2026.

On February 3, 2026, the President signed H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, extending key Medicare telehealth flexibilities through December 31, 2027.

In this podcast, we sit down with David Traskey, former Senior Counsel at HHS-OIG and current co-head of Garfunkel Wild’s D.C. office, to talk about what makes for an effective compliance program.  In the last of seven episodes exploring this topic, we discuss the importance of detecting offenses and developing corrective action plans.

Recently finalized in the Federal Register, the USPS’s addition of Section 608.11—“Postmarks and Postal Possession”—to the Domestic Mail Manual quietly reshapes a foundational assumption about how postmarks function.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General issued a favorable advisory opinion (25-11) regarding an arrangement under which a vaccine manufacturer proposed to offer four types of discounts and rebates on three selected vaccines to its retail and non-retail customers.

On December 19, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota issued a significant decision in the Change Healthcare cybersecurity multidistrict class action, largely denying defendants’ motion to dismiss claims brought by health care providers nationwide. The Court permitted core negligence and breach-of-contract claims to proceed against Change Healthcare, UnitedHealth Group, and affiliated Optum entities, dismissing only narrower negligence-per-se theories premised on HIPAA and the Federal Trade Commission Act.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have jointly issued a fourth temporary extension (the “Extension”) permitting health care practitioners to prescribe Schedule II–V controlled substances via audio-video telemedicine encounters without first conducting an in-person evaluation. The Extension, effective through December 31, 2026, continues to afford the DEA time to finalize permanent regulations governing controlled substance prescribing through telemedicine.

Effective July 1, 2025, however, the State of Florida passed legislation allowing physicians to use non-FDA approved stem cell therapies for certain treatments or procedures related to orthopedics, wound care, or pain management, provided that the performance of such is within the physician’s scope of practice.

In this podcast, we sit down with David Traskey, former Senior Counsel at HHS-OIG and current co-head of Garfunkel Wild’s D.C. office, to talk about what makes for an effective compliance program.  In the sixth of seven episodes exploring this topic, we discuss the importance of risk assessments, proactive auditing, and monitoring.