By James M. Burns On January 6, two Michigan Congressmen – Representative John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Representative Dan Benishek (R-Mich.) – introduced the “Quality Health Care Coalition Act of 2015.” The bill (H.R. 105) would permit independent healthcare professionals to engage in joint negotiations with health insurers over fees and other contract terms. Currently, such …
Care Recipients’ Limited Right to Discriminate Based on Protected Characteristics of Care Provider
By David J. Houston Healthcare provider institutions including hospitals, clinics, medical practices, nursing homes and home health care providers (here, “Institutions”) are occasionally called upon to balance the preferences of Consumers against the interests or possible rights of their employee Care Providers. This may occur when Consumer complaints target assigned direct Care Providers – nurses, …
Will the ACO Proposed Rule Save the Shared Savings Program?
By Jessica L. Russell In 2011, CMS implemented the Accountable Care Organization (“ACO”) Shared Savings Program, which aims to promote increased savings for the Medicare program, improve health care quality, and create a more efficient and effective health care delivery system. While many deemed the ACO to be the future of health care models, the …
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PHIPA offers “no shelter” to Ontario Hospital from class proceedings for breach of privacy
By Wendy Hulton Back in 2012, the Ontario Court of Appeal recognized the tort of invasion of privacy – fast forward to the recent string of privacy breaches of personal information held by health care facilities in Ontario. Along comes Hopkins v Kay, 2014 ONSC 321 (CanLII), where patients from the Peterborough Regional Health Centre …