Illinois House Bill 3498: Telehealth Expansion and Payment Equality

Posted on April 6, 2021Categories Uncategorized

The Coalition to Protect Telehealth and State Representative Deb Conroy of the Illinois 46th House District have introduced legislation that would permanently expand access to telehealth services for Illinoisans.  The legislation also details provisions that promote telehealth payment rate partity between telehealth services and in-person care.  In a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth providers have been granted temporary waivers to align their payment rates with those prescribed for traditional care in health care facilities.  These waivers have served as stabilizing financial mechanisms for many practitioners experiencing revenue loss due to the restrictions on elective procedures and non-emergency care.  The proposed legislation would give patients more freedom to utilize telehealth services by removing the patient responsibilities to demonstrate hardship or access issues.
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Supreme Court to Make a Decision Regarding the NCAA’s Monopoly in Collegiate Athletics

Posted on April 5, 2021Categories Athletic Regulation

The Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments in the matter of National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, et al. on March 31st, 2021. After decades of controversy regarding what restrictions the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) should be allowed to place on their member universities to compensate their collegiate athletes, many antitrust experts hope that the Supreme Court’s decision will give a final decision on if the NCAA’s current regulations are a violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act and if they are, are they still justified by the NCAA’s goals.
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Environmental Groups Fight for Stronger Regulation of Ground-level Ozone Pollution

Posted on April 3, 2021Categories Uncategorized

Daniel Bourgault Journal of Regulatory Compliance Applicant Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, JD 2022 On  February 11, 2021, a host of environmental groups filed a Petition for Review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging a final action of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) in regard to the review …
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A New Way to Tax Wealth

Posted on April 2, 2021Categories Uncategorized

With Democratic control over the House, Senate, and Presidency for the first time since 2011, President Biden has been ambitious in his efforts to reinvigorate the economy, signing into law a $1.9 trillion economic aid package with plans to increase access to affordable housing and a $3 trillion investment in infrastructure. To finance their legislative agenda, Democrats have several initiatives which would mostly raise taxes for the wealthiest Americans such as Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax or increasing the maximum income tax rate back to 39.6%, as it was while President Bush was in office.
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New CDC Guidelines for K-12 Schools May Send More Students Back to Classrooms

Posted on April 1, 2021Categories Uncategorized

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) released revised guidelines regarding physical distancing in K-12 schools. Originally, the CDC recommended that students should stay six feet away from each other in a classroom with mask but now recommends at least three feet between students in classrooms. These new guidelines will encourage more schools to return to the classroom around the nation.
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The “Equality Act” is Still Trying to Garner Equal Support From Both Parties

Posted on March 31, 2021Categories Uncategorized

Last week, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held its first round of hearings regarding passage of HR 5, known as the “Equality Act.” The Equality Act aims to codify protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. President Biden has continually reiterated his support, urging “Congress to swiftly pass this historic legislation.” While the bill has been introduced multiple times before, its potential impact has changed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in cases like Bostock v. Clayton Co, which held that terminating a man’s employment because he had a same-sex partner qualified as sex discrimination under Title XII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Rather than rely on the term ‘sex’ as an umbrella encompassing sexual orientation and gender identity, the Equality Act would actually amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, in addition to race, color, religion, sex and national origin. For all of these groups, the Equality Act would also go beyond the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s protections in the areas of employment and housing to have a broader reach, by including federally funded programs and “public accommodations,” which can include retail businesses.
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NCAA March Madness Compliance with COVID-19 Guidelines

Posted on March 31, 2021Categories Athletic Regulation

In this unprecedented season of March Madness, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is required to implement rigorous health and safety procedures to conform to CDC guidelines and fend of COVID-19 complications in this year’s basketball tournament. This year’s tournament will be held exclusively in Indianapolis, Indiana, with the Final Four playing in the Lucas Oil Stadium to accommodate a larger audience. However, capacity will still be reduced to just 25%. All venues for the tournament will be less than 25% capacity. This 25% capacity includes,” all participants, essential staff and family members of each participating team’s student-athletes and coaches and a reduced number of fans.” The NCAA noted that those who were able to attend the tournament games live would be required to wear face coverings and to socially distance from one another. As of March 18, the NCAA only identified eight positive COVID-19 cases out of more than 9,100 tests. This is equal to a positivity rate of less than 0.1%.

The Biggest Upset of March Madness: Unequal Accommodations

Posted on March 30, 2021Categories Athletic Regulation, Compliance Spotlight

A major upset took place on first day of the very much anticipated 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) Division 1 Basketball Tournaments, and I am not referring to any of the games that took place on that day. In the evening of March 18th, University of Oregon Forward Sedona Prince took to social media to expose the evident discrepancies between the weight room facilities for the men’s and women’s tournament facilities. To prevent a coronavirus outbreak, each of the tournaments are taking place in a bubble funded by the NCAA. The video Prince posted showed the women’s tournament weight room which consisted of a single set of dumbbells, then showed the men’s tournament weight room that was supplied with various training equipment. Not only were there massive disparities between the weight rooms for the men’s and women’s tournaments, but there is also a clear and substantial difference in the “swag bags” given to each student athlete participating in the tournament from the NCAA. As well as the quality of food provided to the female student athletes who are competing in the tournament.
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The Revised Lead and Copper Rule – Will it make an impact?

Posted on March 30, 2021Categories Uncategorized

In 1991, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act to control lead and copper in drinking water, referred to as the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). The Rule was created to protect public health by minimizing lead and copper levels in drinking water, primarily by reducing water corrosivity through corrosion control treatment. While implementation of the LCR has resulted in major improvements in public health, there is still much that needs to be done as research continues to show cities today see higher than normal levels of lead in their drinking water.
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