By Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC, CSSC Representing someone who is Medicare eligible automatically triggers concerns over the implications of compliance with the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (hereinafter MSP). A client who is a current Medicare beneficiary or reasonably expected to become one within…
By Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC, CSSC Failure to Pay Equals Personal Liability The government takes its reimbursement rights seriously and is willing to pursue trial lawyers who ignore Medicare’s interest. On March 18th, 2019, the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland…
By Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC, CSSC While a lot of attention is paid to Medicare conditional payments/liens when it comes to personal injury settlements, a larger issue looms regarding payments made by Medicare after resolution. Today, there is a very real threat of…
Most defendants have started to mandate, as part of the release language, that the plaintiff choose one of two below options for addressing Medicare’s future interests, without exception in return for payment of the settlement monies: Plaintiff agrees to get a letter from the treating…
Does My Client Need an MSA Even If They Don’t Have Medicare Yet? As lawyers are fond of saying: it depends. First, we need to understand why MSAs exist and the problem they seek to resolve. Let’s look at a hypothetical, and we’ll start with…
On March 18th, 2019, the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland announced that the law firm of Meyers, Rodbell & Rosenbaum, P.A., has agreed to pay the United States $250,000 to settle claims that it did not Reimburse Medicare for payments made on…
CMS has established a set timeframe to rollout formal guidelines for Liability Medicare Set-Asides (LMSAs) in 2019[i]. Plaintiff attorneys must develop Medicare compliance protocols for their law firms to avoid exposing them to liability from legal malpractice pitfalls. Plaintiff attorneys must go on the offensive…
Liability MSAs: CMS Announces Proposed Rulemaking for MSP Compliance A proposed rulemaking on “Miscellaneous Medicare Secondary Payer Clarifications and Updates” was just posted on the Office of Management and Budget website. The abstract of the rule says: “This proposed rule would ensure that beneficiaries are…
Problem 1) There is still an incredible amount of misinformation in the marketplace about Liability MSAs. Despite efforts to raise awareness and educate stakeholders about LMSAs, many of the largest liability insurance carriers are still convinced that failure to address Medicare’s future interests on liability…