The Department of Health and Human Services has published proposed regulations for the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). The new regulations are intended to incorporate Section 1921 of the Social Security Act, which was enacted as part of the Medicare and Medicaid Patient and Program Protection Act of 1987 (MMPPA).
These proposed regulations were first…
Contributed by Scott R. Leah, Esq.
sleah@tuckerlaw.com, 412.594.5551
In a recent case, several physicians challenged the ability of a medical practice to restrict their ability to practice medicine in accordance with a noncompetition agreement that they had signed. The physicians argued that the agreements were void as they violated state law on restricting the ability…
The case of Cowell v. Good Samaritan Community Health Care, a state court case in Washington, provides guidance on two of the four elements of HCQIA immunity, i.e. that the action was reasonably taken in the furtherance of quality health care and the necessary substance to establish a reasonable investigation.
Dr. Cowell raised an…
The stalled healthcare reform initiative leaves the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule problem of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) imposed 21.5% reduction as a stand alone separate issue. The physician fee schedule decrease was postponed for 2 months by an Obama addition to a defense approriation bill, with the expectation that a long term solution would…
The Health Information Technology for Clinical Health Act (the "HITECH" Act) provides economic incentive for the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology and qualified Electronic Health Record systems ("EHR"s). A physician, other professional, or hospital shall be deemed to be a meaningful EHR user if:
1) Certified EHR technology is used in a…
In Bansal vs. Mount Carmel Health Systems, Inc., an Ohio state appellate court ruled that the hospital had failed to prove that documents were protected by Ohio’s statutory peer review privilege (Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.25), and reversed a trial court summary judgment decision. Dr. Girraj K. Bansal was removed from the hospital’s call schedule, and…
Contributed by Piyush Seth, Esquire
pseth@tuckerlaw.com, 412.594.5640
The Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with the US Department of State, have announced a humanitarian parole policy allowing orphaned children from Haiti to enter the US temporarily. Each case is reviewed separately (case by case basis) and depending upon the particular circumstances of the case, children are
…
Contributed by Lee Kim, Esquire
lkim@tuckerlaw.com or 412.594.3915
Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, as parens patriae for the State of Connecticut and on behalf of the State of Connecticut, sued Health Net of the Northeast, Inc. (“Health Net”) for multiple HIPAA violations. In a nutshell, Mr. Blumenthal stated in a press release, “The staggering scope of…
Contributed by Lee Kim, Esquire
lkim@tuckerlaw.com, 412.594.3915
The HIPAA Security Rules require covered entities and (soon) business associates to implement and adopt administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure that electronic protected health information (“ePHI”) is adequately protected from those without legitimate cause to access such information. Only authorized personnel should be allowed to…
Both the Senate and the House versions of the health care reform bills are 2,000 page unindexed monstrosities, making it extremely difficult to locate provisions of interest. The Sunday, January 10, 2010 edition of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, reports that a retired business professor, Doug Lowry, has written a program allowing searches of the Senate…
