Blog: Healthcare Legal Updates

The Hospital Price Transparency Law, codified at 45 CFR Part 180 and effective as of January 1, 2021, was implemented to provide the public with accessible hospital pricing information, aiming to eliminate hidden fees and empower consumers to make informed healthcare decisions. Under this rule, hospitals are required to disclose prices through their website in two key formats: (1) a machine-readable file containing standard charges for all items and services, and (2) a consumer-friendly display of at least 300 “shoppable” services—services that can be scheduled in advance by a healthcare consumer. These requirements apply to most U.S. hospitals, including critical access and specialty hospitals, but exclude federal facilities such as those operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Despite the rule’s intentions, enforcement by CMS has historically been inconsistent, resulting in continued noncompliance across the industry.

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In an article published by Law360 on March 18, 2025, Weintraub Shareholder Jeanne Vance discusses the implications of President Trump’s recent executive order relating to the costs and accessibility of in vitro fertilization (IVF.) While headlines about the order suggested protections for IVF, the executive order really signaled a policy intention of future action rather than binding legal change.

Law360 members can view the full article on their website, or you can download the PDF here.

In our practices, we are seeing an increasing number of denials or de facto denials of Medi-Cal provider enrollments. The consequences of a Medi-Cal enrollment denial can be quite serious. First, a provider may not receive reimbursement for services provided to Medi-Cal beneficiaries when it is not an enrolled provider. Second, it takes a long time to advance applications through the California Department of Health Care Services (“DHCS”) enrollment application review process (in some instances nine months or even longer), so re-filing can mean an extended period of no reimbursement. Third, a provider or other providers that are affiliated with the denied provider may have to disclose the denial, however innocuous, on enrollment applications in the Medicare and Medicaid programs forever. Failure to do so may itself cause additional denials in the future, so it is also important to keep track of the denial.

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I am fresh back from Baltimore, Maryland, where I was on the faculty of AHLA’s annual Institute on Medicare and Medicaid Payment Issues. I have been on the faculty of this program for a dozen years, and am always thrilled to hear the latest in healthcare payment and reimbursement changes and trends. This year I spoke on Medicare policies on hospital co-location, and presented along with the person who oversaw development of the government policy, David Wright, Director of the Quality, Safety & Oversight Group of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

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