November 2014

On November 24, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it would extend the deadline for hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) to attest to meaningful use for the 2014 reporting year in the Medicare Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program.  The deadline was extended for a month, from November 30, 2014…

On November 25, 2014, the Article 29 Working Party agreed guidelines for data protection authorities seeking to apply the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling reached earlier this year against Google, which has become known as the right to be forgotten or “RTBF” ruling.  The full guidelines have not yet been published,…

Last week, TRUSTe, Inc. (“TRUSTe”) settled Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) charges that it misrepresented its certification programs and non-profit status to consumers.  TRUSTe offers clients Certified Privacy Seals, representing to consumers that the website, software, data processing service, or mobile application is compliant with the relevant TRUSTe program.  These programs include specifications related to transparency…

Jean Claude Juncker, the new President of the European Commission whose term started on 1 November, wanted his institution to become more “political”. This wish was fulfilled earlier than he expected.  The same week, the world press published a detailed inquiry by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, on extraordinary tax breaks offered by the…

A U.S. District Court judge today vacated an FEC regulation that limited the degree to which corporations and labor unions must disclose their donors when they pay for an Electioneering Communication.  Van Hollen v. FEC  An Electioneering Communication is a broadcast, cable or satellite communication that features a federal candidate, airs within 30 days…

This morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted a stay of an FCC order that would have made hundreds of thousands of pages of highly confidential unredacted programming distribution and negotiation strategy documents available for inspection by third parties.  The disclosure of these materials would have occurred as part of the…

In remarks last night, President Obama announced his long-planned executive actions to reform the U.S. immigration system.  The President will sign the first of such orders today, despite intense opposition from Republicans in Congress, who believe that the President’s actions are outside the law and contrary to Congress’s authority to legislate federal immigration policy.  In…

In what many consider to be an unusual move, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a high-stakes case about the legality of premium subsidies for low- and moderate-income individuals enrolling in health coverage offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).   

The Court will review a unanimous decision by a Fourth Circuit panel in King v.…