In a Feb. 25 email, the Veterans Administration ("VA") told a healthcare consultant to stop work immediately on her long-time contract. But another email the next day rescinded the stop-work order.
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The contract shuffle happened a few days after President Donald Trump announced an executive order ("EO") on the regulatory framework. The Feb. 19 EO—“Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative”—is far-reaching, said attorney Christina McKinley, with Blank Rome LLP. “Who knows which regulations will be teed up? But I think there are opportunities and risks.”
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There’s another way to think about it, McKinley said. “When you look at the deregulatory executive order, it has broad ramifications because virtually every business is affected by federal regulations in some capacity,” she noted. Whether entities welcome the termination of a regulation depends on their point of view, and that’s something they can have a say in.
An entity could suggest the elimination of a regulation they dislike for whatever reason (e.g., it’s expensive to comply with or compliance isn’t feasible), McKinley said. “This executive order provides the opportunity for the entity to reach out to that agency to say, ‘here’s what we think should be on the list for rescission’” and identify how the regulation fits within the seven categories in the EO, she explained.
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"VA Contract Is Canceled and Reinstated; EO May Slow Rules," by Nina Youngstrom was published in the Report on Medicare Compliance Volume 34, Number 8, on March 3, 2025.
