Assessors are charged with the duty of determining the fair market value of business and residential property in Louisiana so that annual ad valorem property taxes can be imposed. This duty to determine fair market value is modified by a duty to insure that assessments are uniform. That is, similar properties should have similar assessments. Continue Reading Louisiana Taxpayer Victory May Help Others Avoid Increased Assessments

United States Senators Vitter, Salazar, Thune and Demint have proposed legislation to amend and expand the “Importation of Prescription Drugs” statute found at 21 U.S.C. §384. The Importation of Prescription Drugs statute, which became effective December 8, 2003, allows for the importation of prescription drugs from Canada to pharmacists or wholesalers in the United States. Continue Reading Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2005

The proliferation of laws and regulations related to Medicare, Medicaid, and physician licensing make many physicians unsure about what business decisions they may make or arrangements they may enter without taking risks too large to justify the business advantages. With the advent of more aggressive regulation, physicians are also concerned about the difficulty involved in billing accurately. This post addresses some common physician questions. Continue Reading Common Physician Questions about Fraud and Abuse Laws

The regulatory debate over Specialty Hospitals continues as the moratorium on referrals of Medicare patients by physician-investors expired on June 8, 2005. The moratorium was an 18-month period in which Congress provided that physician ownership and investment in “specialty hospitals” would not qualify for the “whole hospital” and “rural provider” exceptions in the Stark Law. Continue Reading Specialty Hospital Update

That question was one of several issues addressed by EPA in its review of a Petition for Objection filed by the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (“LEAN”) on Title V permits issued to ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Refinery. The Clean Air Act requires that a state agency give reasonable “opportunity for public comment and a hearing” on a draft Title V operating permit before the final permit is issued. In the ExxonMobil case, LEAN filed comments and requested a public hearing on several draft permits. LEAN was the only commenter and the only person requesting a hearing. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality denied the request for hearing, but did consider and respond to the comments submitted by LEAN. After LDEQ issued the permits, the environmental group petitioned EPA to formally object to the permits, citing as one of many grounds that LDEQ did not grant the hearing request.

On June 29, 2005, EPA denied LEAN’s petition. EPA indicated that an “opportunity” for a hearing does not mean that the DEQ had to actually grant the hearing. EPA said that while a request for a hearing by just one organization sometimes might be sufficient, “[g]iven the fact that Petitioners were the only commenters, LDEQ could have reasonably concluded that there was not sufficient public interest to hold a hearing on these permits.” The opinion also noted that although the LDEQ did not hold a public hearing, ExxonMobil held an informal open house for the public concerning the project, and that the agency had attended that meeting. According to the opinion, each agency must use reasonable judgment to review all of the facts, and the public informational meeting held by ExxonMobil may have played a part in LDEQ’s decision. The citizen group must show that the agency unreasonably exercised its discretion in order to prevail. The entire decision is available at http://www.epa.gov/region07/programs/artd/air/title5/petitiondb/petitions/exxonmobil_batonrouge_response2004.pdf.

The EEOC’s most recent effort is an outreach program called the Youth @ Work Initiative which began in September of 2004. This is a national initiative designed to educate young/teenage employees and employers who hire teenagers. The EEOC hopes through its efforts to educate young employees about the illegality of discrimination and harassment based on sex, race, religion, national origin, or disability. Continue Reading Youth @ Work Initiative from the EEOC

Health care providers welcomed the changes last year to the Medicare reassignment requirements that allow independent contractor physicians to reassign payment for Medicare-covered services regardless of the site of service to another entity such as a physician group. Prior to these changes, the Medicare reassignment regulations specifically required independent contractor physicians to provide services on a group’s premises if the group wanted Medicare to pay the group directly for that physician’s services. Continue Reading CMS Comments on Radiology Service Agreements