The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights recently issued helpful guidance for health care providers relative to communicating with a patient’s family, friends or others involved in the patient’s care. The guidance contains a number of commonly asked HIPAA questions as well as a helpful chart relative to disclosures. This
Mike Cassidy Included in The Best Lawyers in America 2009
Michael Cassidy has been included by his peers in the Health Care Law category in The Best Lawyers in America 2009. Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer review publication in the legal profession, and has been compiling a list of best lawyers for 25 years. Best Lawyers is widely regarded within
MS.1.20: Opportunity to Restore Medical Staff Governance and Establish Neutral Peer Review
Click on the link to view the article, MS.1.20: Opportunity to Restore Medical Staff Governance and Establish Neutral Peer Review, that was featured in the September 2008 edition of the ACMS Bulletin magazine.
Reporting Practice Changes to CMS
Once enrolled in the Medicare Program, physicians, other non-physician individual practitioners and physicians group practices are required to notify CMS of changes in their practice structures. These requirements are sometimes referred to as change in ownership (CHOW) rules. Physicians and other individuals are required to report the following on form CMS-855-I:
1. Change of business
Medicare Adds False Claims Authority to Purchased Diagnostic Services
In an MLN Matters announcement, a copy of which is attached at the Link below, CMS has added False Claims Act implications to reporting purchased technical components of diagnostic services. While admittedly any intentional misreporting of the purchased services would be subject to False Claims Act implications, CMS has taken the uncertainly out of this matter
PROMETHEUS: Innovative Physician Payment Model Seeks Physician Input
The PROMETHEUS Payment(R) Model is a new program which is designed to pay providers fairly, improve quality, enhance transparency and still be more efficient than what we have today. At www.prometheuspayment.org, you will find much information about this not-for-profit, tax exempt program which has received more than $6 million from the Robert Wood Johnson
California Court Rejects Retroactive Credentialing Requirements
In Nasim v. Los Robles Regional Medical Center (2008 Cal. App. LEXIS 1251), a California Appellate State Court held that adoption of credentialing criteria which would retroactively deny a physician certain clinical privileges was illegal under California law.
Los Robles Regional Medical Center adopted standards requiring board certification, and those standards required that subspecialty board
Texas Reports Drop in Malpractice Premiums Due to Tort Reform With Damage Caps
Damage cap credited for drop in Texas malpractice premiums
BY CHRIS RIZO
 |
AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline)-Thanks to a tort reform law in Texas, physicians in the Lone Star State will have reduced liability premiums, officials said this week.
The board of the Texas Medical Liability Trust recently approved an average rate reduction of 4.7
Stark IV: Per-Click Leases; Stand-in-Shoes; and Disallowance
The Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published final Stark IV regulations in the Federal Register on August 19, 2008. The web link is ttp://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-17914.htm. The final regulations cover issues in addition to physician self-referral. Three issues of particular interest are the per-click compensation arrangements, the Stand-in-shoes regulations,