White House Eyes Panel on Drug Prices While Senators Call for Transparency
President Donald Trump is considering appointing lawmakers to a bipartisan commission that would develop strategies to lower prescription drug prices, while senators last week called for greater transparency into how medicines are priced. Trump has been sharply critical of the pharmaceutical industry, including as recently as last week when he repeated his remarks that drug companies are “getting away with murder.” The president is said to be frustrated that drug prices in the United States are higher than in other industrialized countries where governments set prices.
It is not clear whether a commission will be created or whether it would replace a potential Trump executive order on drug prices, which administration officials had focused on earlier this year. Work on that executive order has cooled in recent months. Industry officials oppose the idea of a commission, which would give their opponents on the Hill – mostly Democrats – a platform to advocate for anti-industry provisions. Democrats have long wanted to lift the ban on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) negotiating prices for Medicare Part D drugs and removing the ban on importation of drugs from other countries where governments set prices. Continue Reading
With growing patient demands, advanced technology and payer restraints, healthcare providers are increasingly exploring management agreements with experienced companies to handle the daily operations of their clinical practice. However, healthcare professionals need to be aware of the potential pitfalls in doing so, especially given the deeply rooted corporate practice of medicine doctrine in many states, which provides that practitioners, not corporations, should retain control of the business decisions that affect the practice of medicine. While the corporate practice of medicine is often thought of as an antiquated doctrine, the New York and New Jersey courts recently affirmed that the doctrine is indeed alive and well.
The deadline is November 15, 2017
Partner 
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 substantially changed audit-related rules impacting entities taxed as partnerships, including both state-law partnerships and many limited liability companies (LLCs). The most significant change is that any additional tax or penalties resulting from an audit of an entity taxed as a partnership generally will be assessed and collected at the entity level (as opposed to at the partner or member level). These new rules are effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018. Proposed regulations addressing, among other things, some of the problem areas of these new rules were released in January 2017, but were almost immediately withdrawn as part of the Trump administration’s regulatory freeze. Updated proposed regulations were re-released mid-June 2017.
In Advisory Opinion 