Month:

May 2020

COVID-19’s Detrimental Impact in Long-Term Care Facilities

According to the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”), older adults and people with severe underlying medical conditions are at higher risk for developing more serious complications from the COVID-19 illness. For this reason, among others, long-term care facilities have been hit particularly hard by the virus. Although it was difficult to be prepared for this pandemic, there are concerns that many long-term care facilities did not have proper preventative measures in place in even before COVID-19 became an issue. Because of this, long-term care facilities have become hot spots for the viruses spread. As states and the federal government continue to monitor long-term care facilities’ compliance with local and federal laws, regulatory agencies are now also faced with added pressure to not only slow the spread of COVID-19 within the facilities, but also to control the legal environment in the anticipated aftermath of the outbreak.

Employer Compliance with CARES Act

On March 27, 2020, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (H.R. 748), otherwise known as the “CARES” Act. Originally introduced in January as the Middle-Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act, the bill was then revised to address the needs of the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic. The bi-partisan CARES Act, with strong support from the White House, ultimately passed the House of Representatives with a 419-6 roll call and the Senate with 96-0 votes.

Telehealth Services Amid a Global Pandemic

With COVID-19 rapidly spreading, telehealth services have been seeing an explosion of demand. On March 17, 2020, President Trump announced during a White House press briefing an unprecedented expansion of telehealth services for the 62 million Medicare beneficiaries who are amongst the most vulnerable to the disease. The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) have since vowed to work with the administration by temporarily relaxing certain HIPAA, altering licensure, cost-sharing, and auditing requirements. As the number of patients increases, compliance and privacy risks associated with telehealth also surge.

The NCAA and COVID-19: How are Student Athletes Impacted?

Sarah Suddarth Associate Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2021   The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to everyone’s lives, and student athletes are no exception. The unprecedented situation has presented many questions and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) has attempted to answer many of those questions coming directly from the displaced …
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Tiger King and Zoo Auditing

Libby Meadows Associate Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2021 Like many people during this quarantine, the majority of my days are spent switching through different streaming sites trying to find anything entertaining to watch. Towards the end of March Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness was released on Netflix. It instantly took …
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The Empire State’s New Data Privacy Law

Data privacy and more specifically, user privacy, has become the focus for many in the past year. Some may say that the European Union began this “trend” with the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with California soon following in their footsteps with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). However, seemingly more silently in New York, The Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security, or SHIELD Act has also been created in the interest of the protection of personal information. The SHIELD Act was enacted on July 25, 2019 as an amendment to the General Business Law and the State Technology Law to include breach notification requirements and stronger rules in place to enforce against businesses handling personal information. The SHIELD Act recently went into effect on March 21, 2020.