Medical Journal February 2021 Digital Edition
February 17, 20211 min
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Employer-mandated COVID-19 vaccinations
February 17, 20219 min
By Allison L. Davis and Brittany K. Hinton, Brown & Fortunato, P.C. On December 16, 2020, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published new guidance concerning mandatory vaccinations in an updated version of What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws. In the article, the EEOC analyzes potential disability discrimination implications of employers requiring their employees to receive SARS-CoV-2 (“COVID-19”) vaccinations as a condition of...
ERC dollars on the table
February 17, 20218 min
By Catherine Lightfoot, CPA, CHBC, Director of Healthcare, EEPB The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 held many tax relief breaks to continue supporting businesses as they navigate through the COVID-19 economy. What I want to focus on here is that even though the Act references 2021, a good portion of the potential savings is applicable to 2020. Let us review some history and work through the updates. The COVID-19 relief packages were based on a...
Welcome news for healthcare employers: Fifth Circuit adopts more demanding standard for FLSA collective actions
February 17, 202115 min
By Brian London, Associate, Fisher Phillips The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq., protects employees by establishing a minimum hourly rate of pay, maximum work hours, and overtime compensation for work in excess of 40 hours per week. Employers who violate these requirements, even unintentionally, are often subject to costly wage and hour lawsuits in federal court. On January 12, 2021, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued...
The hidden COVID pandemic will be with us for a long time
February 17, 20218 min
By Victor S. Sierpina, MD “In times of deep darkness, we not only need light—we need to be a light for one another.” -Parker Palmer While we have been staring down the gun barrels of serious illness and death from COVID plus the stuttering roll-out of sufficient vaccines, another pandemic is developing. This is the so-called “Long Haul COVID” or” Post-COVID syndrome.” In a significant percentage of COVID cases, those who have “recovered” from the...
Building on Texas’ Medicaid 1115 waiver extension
February 17, 20216 min
By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association As COVID-19 vaccines continue to flow to patients across the state, Texas health care providers have another reason to be hopeful for the future. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently approved a monumental 10-year extension of a Medicaid waiver that provides critically needed stability to the health care safety net in Texas. Last year, Texas hospitals incurred more than $4.6 billion in uncompensated care costs. Then,...
Transwestern negotiates new 6,000 sf lease with Berkley Eye Center
February 17, 20212 min
Transwestern Real Estate Services (TRS) announces Berkley Eye Center has signed a 5,969-square-foot lease at 1435 Highway 6 in Sugar Land, Texas. Transwestern’s Senior Vice President Ashley Cassel provided landlord representation services on behalf of the building owner, Ramp Properties LP. “Sugar Land is an outstanding community, which is why my family moved here in 2018,” said Dr. Morgan Micheletti, a surgeon with Berkley Eye Center. “Many patients who have received care at our other...
Study defines small-cell lung cancer subtypes and distinct therapeutic vulnerabilities for each type
February 17, 20218 min
Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed the first comprehensive framework to classify small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) into four unique subtypes, based on gene expression, and have identified potential therapeutic targets for each type. SCLC is known for rapid, aggressive growth and resistance to treatment, which leads to poor outcomes. While recent advances in immunotherapy and targeted therapy have improved survival for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), progress for SCLC has been limited. “For decades, small-cell lung cancer...
Researchers at UTMB and Vanderbilt find a weak spot of COVID-19
February 17, 20218 min
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered what may be the Achilles’ heel of the coronavirus, a finding that may help close the door on COVID-19 and possibly head off future pandemics. The coronavirus is an RNA virus that has, in its enzymatic toolkit, a “proofreading” exoribonuclease, called nsp14-ExoN, which can correct errors in the RNA sequence that occur during replication, when copies of the...