August 2009 | ILN Today

Monthly Archives: August 2009

August 26, 2009

Is Telemedicine Missing from Health Reform?

By Shawn Gilman

Perhaps in recognition of its benefits to areas affected by shortfalls in specialists and primary care physicians or the need for remote monitoring, telemedicine received significant funding in the ARRA. For instance, the Rural Utilities Service was allocated $2.5 billion to fund “shovel-ready” distance learning, telemedicine, and broadband program; the Indian Health Services received $85 million to fund telemedicine; and a portion of the $2 billion allocated to the Office of the National Coordinator is to be used to support the “infrastructure and tools for the promotion of telemedicine.” However, in contrast to the ARRA, the current reform proposals publicly available are missing language facilitating telemedicine which otherwise could be a key component to one of the goals of health reform, bending the cost curve.

The only attention telemedicine receives in the House Tri-Committee Bill – the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 – is in the creation of the Telehealth Advisory Committee. This Committee will advise and make recommendations to the HHS Secretary regarding policies for payment of telemedicine services. However, the Senate HELP’s Bill – the Affordable Choices Act – does not even mention telemedicine.

Posted in Legal Updates | North America

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August 3, 2009

Ninth Circuit: Managers Can Be Liable For Unpaid Wages Upon Bankruptcy

By EBG RSS

On July 27, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a corporation’s managers can be held personally liable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) for wages that the corporation failed to pay to employees prior to the employer’s filing for bankruptcy. This opinion serves as a cautionary reminder of the risks managers potentially face when a corporation files for bankruptcy and has failed to pay its employees for all wages earned prior to the filing.

In Boucher v. Shaw, —- F. 3d —-, 2009 WL 2217517 (9th Cir. 2009), former employees of the Castaways Hotel, Casino and Bowling Center sued three senior managers for unpaid wages under Nevada state law as well as federal law. The managers moved to dismiss the claims based on, among other grounds, the fact that the hotel had filed for bankruptcy protection. The Ninth Circuit asked the Nevada Supreme Court to address the issue of whether, under state law, the managers could be personally liable as “employers” for the unpaid wages. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that individual managers are not “employers” under state law. However, the Ninth Circuit ruled against the managers on the federal FLSA claims and allowed the employees’ claims to proceed.