Healthcare

Michigan hospitals and freestanding surgical outpatient facilities now may purchase prosthetic devices tax-exempt from suppliers, under updated legislation. The new law, effective March 2, 2020, is another step toward clarity of the sales and use taxes for prosthetic devices. Beginning a few years ago, the Michigan Department of Treasury changed its interpretations of law to begin imposing sales and use tax on transactions they previously considered exempt. First they went after dental prostheses – e...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced this week additional allocations for the $100 billion being distributed to hospitals and other healthcare providers on the front lines of the coronavirus response. Here’s the latest information on these funds, part of the Provider Relief Fund that is a component of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continues to release $100 billion in relief funds to hospitals and other healthcare providers on the front lines of the coronavirus response. These funds are part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)...

Healthcare providers in areas heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as those who are struggling to keep their practice and facility doors open due to canceled elective services and healthy patients delaying care, can receive federal funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act Provider Relief Fund provides $100 billion in relief funds to hospitals and healthcare providers on the front lines of the coronavirus response. This funding is supporting healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue due to COVID-19 and ensures Americans without healthcare insurance can get testing and treatment for COVID-19. Some $30 billion is being distributed immediately – with payments arriving via direct deposit starting April 10 – to eligible providers throughout the American healthcare system...

In September 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a proposal to simplify the classification of debt. Many healthcare organizations are concerned that the proposal, if approved, would distort their financial metrics and trigger debt covenants. In early 2020, the healthcare sector will get another stab at stating their case to the FASB. First exposure draft  Initial deliberations for the debt classification project began in 2014...

Written by Fred Schaard, CARR Healthcare Realty   One of the most significant business decisions you will make is the strategic choice of your office’s location. In many markets, the incentives offered by landlords to new tenants make relocation more appealing than renewing a lease in your existing space, and before signing any lease renewal you should evaluate all the options in your area. If you decide to open a new office, whether as a relocation, new start-up practice, property purchase, or second office, having the right team in place is paramount and can make the process successful, profitable and maybe even fun! The unique office needs of healthcare providers are foreign to most real estate brokers, architects and other service providers...

Question: Our company is exploring the idea of offering a qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement (QSEHRA). If we decide to go this route, would we be required to report any information about this benefit on employees’ Forms W-2? Answer: Yes. If an employee is covered under a QSEHRA, the employer must report the total amount of the employee’s permitted QSEHRA benefit on Form W-2 in Box 12, using Code “FF...

Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) applicable to 2019 are available for a wide variety of tax limits, including many related to provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Let’s look at some highlights that are related to health care benefits provided by employers. Savings accounts Some COLAs affect health-care-related savings accounts. For example, the dollar limit on employee salary reduction contributions to health Flexible Spending Accounts has been raised from $2,650 to $2,700...

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a work in progress since its enactment nearly nine years ago. You can expect that pattern to continue this year and beyond. The current environment in Washington and a sweeping legal challenge to the ACA’s fundamental constitutionality have given followers of the law’s evolving requirements plenty to monitor and speculate about in the days ahead. Labor market dynamics That legal challenge was made by a U...

Question: Our company sponsors a group health plan that covers employees who work at least 30 hours per week. After reassigning one of our covered full-time employees to a part-time position, we mistakenly continued to provide coverage for two months — collecting premiums and paying claims for that period. After a routine audit, we discovered the error. Can we rescind the employee’s health coverage effective as of the date that his status changed from full-time to part-time?..