"John Travis exemplifies the attorneys at HPS: He is dedicated, hardworking, and driven to provide each client with an expert legal defense tailored to their needs. His addition to the partnership at HPS strengthens the Firm's ability to provide each client with the legal services they need."

As a supplement to its Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 issued in March 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") recently issued Guidance on Returning to Work, which focuses "on the need for employers to develop and implement strategies for basic hygiene, social distancing, identification and isolation of sick employees, workplace controls and flexibilities, and employee training." While not creating additional binding regulations that are enforceable against employers, these OSHA resources aid in identifying areas of risk in the workplace and determining where appropriate control measures should be implemented. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") has issued similar guidance and considerations.

The United States Supreme Court ended its Term in June 2020, with a landmark ruling that applies to all employers across the country with 15 or more employees – and it applies immediately. In Bostock v. Clayton County , the Court concluded that an employer violates Title VII's "because of sex" provision if the employer takes an adverse job action against an employee for being homosexual or transgender.

In May 2020, the Illinois Department of Public Health ("IDPH") informed the State Emergency Operations Center that many Illinois hospitals may need to implement crisis standards of care to combat the COVID-19 public health emergency

As a result of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been actively promulgating nonbinding recommendations to address a litany of issues that have surfaced in the wake of the global pandemic

In the wake of COVID-19's harmful economic impact on several individuals and businesses, the federal government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.1 This legislation created, among other economic boosts, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $349 billion loan program made available through the Small Business Administration (SBA).

For all employers – small or large – Covid-19 continues to create unique challenges in the workplace. A paramount consideration for all employers must be to ensure all members of its HR Department and supervisory personnel comply with federal antidiscrimination law when making employment decisions in the workplace.

As state-at-home orders are lifted and businesses reopen, Employers should be aware of new paid leave requirements that went into effect on April 1, 2020. In addition to ensuring compliance with established federal, state and local employment laws, Employers must also now navigate through several new employment laws and regulations brought about by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).1

HPS Partners Laura Ginett and Elizabeth Neidig will present at the annual conference of the American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing, on June 3, 2020, from 3:00 - 4:30 on the use of The Minimum Data Set Assessments (MDS) and Care Plans in personal injury and wrongful death litigation.

Resources for the May 19, 2020 Virtual Forum: Virtual Forum: Using Telehealth in Long-Term Healthcare Facilities During the Fight Against Covid-19 & Its Aftermath

Join Hall Prangle + Schoonveld, LLC and the Partnership for a Connected Illinois' Telehealth Initiative on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 from 12pm - 1:30pm CST (Available On Demand May 22, 2020).

On May 8, 2020, CMS implemented new infectious disease reporting and notification regulations for the nation's skilled nursing facilities when it published an interim final rule with comment (IFC) entitled "Medicare and Medicaid Programs, Basic Health Program, and Exchanges; Additional Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and Delay of Certain Reporting Requirements for the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting." The Rule is available at The Federal Registrar website.

On April 1, 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker released his most recent Executive Order where he declared that Health Care Facilities, Health Care Professionals, and Health Care Volunteers are immune from civil liability for any injury or death that allegedly arises from providing assistance to the State in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

This post is an update to a March 20, 2020, post "HHS Waives Telehealth Restrictions for Medicare Beneficiaries to Expand Access to COVID-19 Treatment.”

After reading the front-page Tribune story about COVID-19 and nursing homes, I became frustrated by what was missing. Towards the end of the article, there were quotes by an attorney I know well who was described as someone who rails against the nursing home industry to protect the elderly. Even this attorney recognized that we are currently asking nursing home staff to do something extraordinary in the face of an unprecedented crisis. I scrolled the internet to find the article that talked about what was missing. Since I could not find it, I decided to write it.

In response to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar issued a limited waiver of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Effective March 15, 2020 at 6:00 p.m., a covered hospital will not be subject to sanctions or penalties arising from noncompliance with the following provisions.

According to a report posted on Frontiers in Pediatrics, doctors followed four pregnant women from the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic – Wuhan, China – who tested positive for COVID-19. The women all gave birth while actively symptomatic. The conclusion after testing and observation was that the COVID-19 virus did not pass from the mother to the fetus, and the infants were born without any of the respiratory signs of COVID-19.

On March 6, 2020, President Trump signed the $8.3 billion Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act into law, which provided $500 million in waivers for certain Medicare telehealth restrictions during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

In early March 2020, HPS attorneys Marilee Clausing and Matthew Kaminski successfully defended a Chicago area family medicine physician against claims that he failed to diagnose and treat the plaintiff’s rare blood disorder, which caused a catastrophic stroke and permanent neurological damage.

On Friday, February 21, 2020, HPS attorneys accompanied a client from a local rehabilitation center to the American Heart Association's 16th annual Go Red for Women Executive Luncheon at the Marriott Marquis in Chicago.