Szura, a founding partner of Southfield law firm Szura & Delonis, P.L.C., was selected during the HCLS Annual Meeting on September 20th.

The Health Care Law Section is one of the largest sections of the State Bar of Michigan with approximately 1,000 members. The HCLS’s numerous committees and programs provide valuable educational resources for its members around the state. Those resources include webinars and publications on emerging issues in health care law, as well in-person programs at its Annual Meeting and the annual Health Law Institute, which it co-sponsors with the Institute of Continuing Legal Education. In addition, the HCLS seeks to “serve the health care community and advocate on behalf of its interests concerning state and federal legislation and public policy which affect the practice of health care law and related issues.”

Szura’s previous experience with the Health Care Law Section includes service as Chair of its Publications Committee, service as Chair-Elect and as an active Council Member. Szura has also presented on numerous health law topics at HCLS events. He is also an active member of the Medical/Legal Committee of the Oakland County Bar Association.

Szura is a 2003 graduate of Cornell Law School, with a concentration in Business Law and Regulation. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, He has been repeatedly selected as a Michigan Super Lawyer Rising Star, among other distinctions.

Szura represents and counsels health care clients on many aspects of their business, including complex health care regulations, such as the Stark Law, the Anti-Kickback Statute, and HIPAA. He also advises on licensing issues, telemedicine, medical staff and peer review matters, and employment matters, among other areas. In addition, Szura has represented health care clients in a wide variety of matters in state and federal courts and in administrative hearings.

Szura & Delonis, P.L.C. is a firm of Michigan business lawyers who provide legal counsel for small and medium-sized businesses with a particular focus on health care law, real estate and labor and employment law.

However, earlier this month the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed significant changes in government reimbursement for telehealth services in the 2019 Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program.

Specifically, CMS is proposing new codes for remote patient monitoring services. The new codes will reduce some of the burden on practice groups. They will require less treatment time for a service to be reimbursed (20 minutes a month instead of 30 minutes). They provide separate reimbursement for set-up and patient education of the system. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they allow other staff professionals (e.g., RNs) to be reimbursed for such services. These new codes might be the difference in the decision whether to provide remote patient monitoring.

CMS is also seeking to increase access to qualified health professionals by advancing virtual care services. CMS is proposing new codes for virtual check-ins, evaluations of forwarded images and videos, and peer-to-peer online consultations. Importantly, those codes would not require the use of live, interactive audio-video technology and would not require the patient be located in a rural area or a specific qualifying originating site. The originating site requirements and the live face-to-face requirements have been major hurdles in adopting or expanding telehealth services. The fact that CMS is proposing to remove those requirements in this area indicates the requirements may be losing favor. That would be good news for those who have been stopped by those hurdles when deciding whether to expand their telehealth services.

These changes are only proposals at this time. CMS is currently accepting comments on these changes up to September 10, 2018. However, it is likely that they will be adopted in some form for the 2019 fee schedule. That would be good news for providers seeking to expand their practice and good news for patients who have trouble traveling to a qualified provider for the treatment they need.