Legal and practical healthcare information.
By Rose J. Willis A physician practice’s Notice of Privacy Practices (“NPP”) acts as the “roadmap” to the practice’s permitted uses and disclosures of their patients’ protected health information (“PHI”). September 23, 2013 was the deadline for revising NPPs to comply with the changes set forth in the 2013 HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule, meaning that …
Continue reading “Complying with Recent Changes to the Physician’s Notice of Privacy Practices”
By Keith C. Dennen Under HIPAA, physicians are permitted to disclose “protected health information” to their attorneys for purposes of their own healthcare operations. This allows physicians sued by patients for malpractice to provide their attorneys with the information needed to prepare and present a defense. Ordinarily, subpoenas or orders are a part of a …
Continue reading “Ex Parte Communications between Treating Physician and Attorneys”
By Jared A. Smith In today’s healthcare industry, information technology (“IT”) systems play an ever-expanding role in the success of a medical practice. Medical practitioners consistently juggle e-billing and electronic medical records software risk, HIPAA compliance issues, data security and data privacy requirements and meaningful use thresholds, all of which are typically addressed in IT …
Continue reading “HIPAA Violation Results in $4.8 Million Settlement: An IT Perspective”
By Scott Roberts Since the passage of the 2013 HIPAA Omnibus Rule, there has been a substantial increase in HIPAA enforcement actions brought by the Department of Health and Human Services, including an increase in so-called “high-impact cases” where settlements can reach into the millions of dollars. In addition, while HIPAA does not provide for …
By Billee Lightvoet Ward Although the HIPAA Omnibus Rule (the “Rule”) went into effect nearly 18 months ago, the transition period for bringing business associate agreements into compliance with the Rule’s new requirements will end on September 23, 2014. Business associates were directly regulated and responsible for complying with the Rule as of September 23, …
By Billee WardIn April of this year, the FBI issued a Private Industry Notification (PIN) to the health care industry warning of the “likely increase [in] cyber intrusions against health care systems.” In the same month, and into June of this year, a group of hackers originating from China were launching a cyber-attack on the …
Continue reading “FBI Warning to Health Care Sector Holds True”
By Keith C. Dennen In an opinion released on June 19, 2014, the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General stated that Physical Therapists cannot lawfully perform Intramuscular Manual Therapy or Trigger-Point Dry Needling. Dry Needling therapy involves application of a fine, filiform needles to the neuromusculoskeletal system to restore movement, reduce pain, and address other …
By Rose Willis The United States Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) recently issued a “Special Fraud Alert” focusing on two potentially illegal trends that it has detected in arrangements between laboratories and their referring physicians. This post focuses on the first trend (Specimen Processing Arrangements); the second trend (Registry Payments) will be the subject of …
By Scott F. Roberts A number of recent cases demonstrate Health and Human Services’ (“HHS”) Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team’s (“HEAT”) continued success in cracking down on healthcare provider fraud. Since 2009, the federal government has recovered more than $12 billion dollars under the False Claims Act from cases involving health care …
Continue reading “HHS Heat Initiative Continues Fraud Crackdown”
By Keith C. Dennen Hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and independent diagnostic centers cannot exist without physicians and other medical providers. In order to practice at those facilities, the medical professional often is required to be “admitted” to the medical staff of the facility. Although admission to the medical staff provides privileges, it often requires that …