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1st Talk Compliance

1st Talk Compliance

By: First Healthcare Compliance
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Politics & Government
Episodes
  • The Importance of the OIG’s Exclusions List

    The Importance of the OIG’s Exclusions List
    Jun 16 2026
    In this episode of 1st Talk Compliance, Kevin Chmura is joined by Mike Herold to discuss the crucially important LEIE. The LEIE, or List of Excluded Individuals or Entities, also known as the OIG Exclusions List, is a fundamental piece of any medical practice’s compliance program. Yet so few people working in the healthcare space, even some compliance specialists, have never even heard of the list, or do not know the details of checking it.
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    20 mins
  • Telehealth Extensions & 2026 Compliance Priorities: A Compliance Cliffs Update

    Telehealth Extensions & 2026 Compliance Priorities: A Compliance Cliffs Update
    Feb 4 2026
    In this episode of 1st Talk Compliance, Kevin Chmura is joined by Robyn Johns, as they discuss recent updates to their November live webinar, Compliance Cliffs: Navigating Telehealth Waivers and Reimbursement Changes. Learn how the policy landscape has shifted in recent months—especially around telehealth flexibilities, controlled substance prescribing, and the 2026 CMS payment rules. Kevin Chmura Welcome to 1st Talk Compliance. I’m Kevin Chmura, CEO of Panacea Healthcare Solutions. Today we’re bringing you a timely update on our November live webinar, Compliance Cliffs: Navigating Telehealth Waivers and Reimbursement Changes. Since that webinar, several policy changes have moved quickly, especially in telehealth flexibilities. Controlled substance prescribing and 2026 CMS payment rules. Before we jump in, just a quick note. 1st Talk Compliance is brought to you by 1st Healthcare Compliance, a part of Panacea Healthcare Solutions. We help healthcare organizations strengthen their compliance programs with practical education tools and compliance management support. So teams can reduce risk, keep pace with regulatory change and operate with confidence. Now I’m pleased to welcome back Robyn Johns from Med USA. Robyn, thanks for coming back. Robyn Johns Thanks, Kevin. I’m happy to be here. Kevin Chmura Great. So, let’s jump in. So, in November on the webinar, we spent a lot of time on what people were calling the telehealth cliff, which was creating a tremendous amount of uncertainty on whether flexibilities would expire. Can you catch us up on what the status is now? Robyn Johns Yeah. The major update is that the spending package released on January 20th includes extensions of the telehealth flexibilities all the way through December 31st of 2027. Kevin Chmura So that’s a pretty meaningful runway. That’s great, but I guess doesn’t eliminate compliance obligations, but it is reducing near-term uncertainty which give everybody some time to standardize workflows. So, it’s in the news, but maybe you could tell. So, what’s in the spending package at a high level and what should healthcare leaders like us be paying attention to? Robyn Johns Right. So, it was the one from the 20th was a $1.2 trillion spending package released by the House Appropriations Committee and it was just passed yesterday on the 22nd in two separate votes by the full House. So, those bills included the remaining six of the twelve appropriations necessary to avert a government shutdown. So that’s good news for everyone. If we can get them across the finish line, they funded many of the federal government agencies such as HHS, Labor, Defense, HUD, and also Homeland Security. That was a contentious one. That’s why they had to do two separate votes. It funds them through fiscal year 2026, which ends on September 30th of this year. Kevin Chmura So, OK, so we have a funding package with multiple healthcare policy riders. Not, I guess not too surprising in today’s day and age. So, besides the telehealth through 2027, what else is included in there that compliance and operational leaders should know about? Robyn Johns So the writers also include PBM reform and it extends hospital at home actually through 2030, which is another one that hit a lot of facilities hard with the government shutdown. It extends Medicare dependent hospital and low volume hospital programs, which is really beneficial for our rural providers and it delays the Medicaid disproportionate share cut again until fiscal year 2028. Notably, for a lot of people, it does not include an extension of the ACA subsidies, which were such a sticking point in the government shutdown last fall. Kevin Chmura Yeah, that that that last point is operationally really important and coverage instability often turns into eligibility churn and puts real pair mix pressures on the you know same patients, different coverage, right.? And that’s just you know probably increases downstream compliance and documentation stress. Yeah that’s a that’s a tough one. So what’s the timing of congressional action now? Robyn Johns So with the House passing all of the bills, they now send the full appropriations package to the Senate. The Senate will take all of that up when they return from recess on Monday the 26th, and will hopefully pass them all ahead of the January 30th deadline. And hopefully without any significant changes which might require them to go back to the house because the house will be on recess next week. Kevin Chmura Wow. So split schedule, it’s why we should keep ourselves in a monitoring posture. I guess we should always be monitoring, but things are moving pretty quickly right now and you sort of get into that world of what is expected is not what’s in effect. Which is always, always a tough place to operate, but hey, that’s healthcare, isn’t it? So, given the extension to 2027, in your opinion, what ...
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    20 mins
  • Update to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Healthcare Privacy Compliance

    Update to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Healthcare Privacy Compliance
    Jul 14 2025
    In this episode of 1st Talk Compliance, Kevin Chmura is joined by Rachel Rose, JD, MBA, as they discuss recent changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care and Privacy in relation to recent court rulings. This rule, which went into effect in April of 2024, still has certain components which practices need to know about and adhere to heading into 2026. Learn about how these rulings are, and will, impact this important rule, and what HIPAA regulated organizations need to know concerning these updates. In addition, hear about what might be coming in the future of not only reproductive health regulations, but also various other areas of healthcare with regards to privacy. Kevin Chmura Hello and welcome to today’s episode of First Talk Compliance. I’m your host, Kevin Chmura, CEO of First Healthcare Compliance and Panacea Healthcare Solutions. And I’m excited to bring you an important discussion about a major legal development that impacts all HIPAA regulated entities. By way of background, on June 18th, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide order striking down the HIPAA Privacy Rule Amendments designed to strengthen reproductive health care privacy. The amendments had been mandatory since December 2024, and this court decision has created a new compliance challenge for covered entities and business associates. To help us understand what happened, why it matters, and what organizations should do now, we’re joined by our expert guest. Rachel V. Rose, J.D. MBA, who’s a leading authority on HIPAA healthcare privacy law. If you listen to our podcast, you’ve heard Rachel many times. In fact, we’ve discussed this particular topic, or issues around it, pretty recently. So it’s great to have her back. So, Rachel, welcome back. Thank you for coming to share your expertise with us today. Rachel V. Rose Kevin, it’s always my pleasure and thank you for having me back. Kevin Chmura Yeah, your content is always heavily consumed because it’s very important. So we thank you for being here. So, maybe probably best way to just start off is if I can ask you to just briefly explain what the U.S. District Court’s order did, why it’s significant and who it applies to? Rachel V. Rose Absolutely. So on June 18th of this year, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, and specifically the Amarillo Division, in the case caption Carmen Purl et all v. United States Department of Health and Human Services et all. And for those who are interested, that case number is 224-CV-228-Z. And the Z, it correlates to the judge at any time you see initials or an initial after a case number, it’s the judge. And I’ll just simply refer to this case as the Purl case, P-U-R-L. Basically, what the court did was to issue an order vacating the April 16th, 2024 HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care and Privacy. And for simplicity’s sake, I’ll just call that the HIPAA Reproductive Privacy Rule. And basically what it did was to leave intact the requirements regarding the updates to the notice of privacy practices, which are due in early 2026. And to focus on that, there really hasn’t been any guidance yet from HHS. But every covered entity and business associate and subcontractor need to be aware that the notice of privacy practices updates, which really incorporate the HIPAA provisions along with 42 CFR part two regulations, are still in play, and the part two regulations specifically relate to the substance use disorder regulation. So that’s something that again, covered entities, business associates and subcontractors should put on their calendar, and look for updates from First Healthcare Compliance, whenever HHS releases some more guidance related to what should be included. As many know who have been in healthcare a long time. Oftentimes HHS and SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which oversees 42 CFR part two, will issue guidance or form types of agreements or other relevant compliance items. One great example is the Business Associate Agreement. So that’s the part that should be calendar and people should make sure that they are staying abreast of. Now that brings us to what was vacated. And so basically, procedurally, the court granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment. And for those non-lawyers, summary judgment is available when there is no issue of a material fact. In essence, it is judgment as a matter of law, and in doing so, denied the defendants, which in this case is the United States Department of Health and Human Services motion, to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. And the specific section that was vacated pursuant to five U.S.C. Section 7062, except for the modifications that I mentioned to C.F.R. Section 164.520 with the notice of privacy practices are the provisions associated with what were 45 C.F.R. section 1604 520b, 1, 2...
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    33 mins
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