Frier Levitt successfully defended a medical practice in a lawsuit alleging various breaches including doctor-patient privilege, invasion of privacy, duty of care and NJ Consumer Fraud Act. The medical practice was sued along with a collection attorney for the alleged disclosure of PHI. Frier Levitt immediately filed a motion to dismiss on the basis that the information disclosed in a medical bill was not a violation of the doctor-patient privilege since...

Throughout the nation, independent pharmacies are facing lower and lower Medicaid reimbursement rates. These rates are making it harder for pharmacies to make ends meet as the rates often result in pharmacies being reimbursed at or less than their acquisition cost. In response to these unreasonable reimbursement rates, independent pharmacies have urged legislators, both at the state and federal level, to address the predatory reimbursement rates set by Pharmacy Benefit...

In recent years, the opioid epidemic has been bifurcated into two categories: (i) recreational users of illicit drugs and the dealers who supply them; and (ii) individuals whose addictions started with a valid prescription from a professional licensee. The recent announcement by President Trump of stricter penalties for drug crimes (including a renewed endorsement of capital punishment for traffickers) may have ostensibly shifted the public rhetoric surrounding the opioid crisis...

Supermarket pharmacies have existed in the marketplace for nearly 60 years, with the number of outlets exploding in more recent times. Supermarket pharmacies have consistently averaged some of the highest customer-satisfaction scores among different pharmacy provider sites, resulting in over 15% of all prescriptions being dispensed from supermarket pharmacies. Over the last several years, with the increased importance and prevalence of specialty medications in the healthcare continuum, many supermarket pharmacies...

Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a resolution agreement it had entered into with Filefax, Inc. (Filefax) to address potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). By way of brief background, Filefax was a medical record storage and disposal company that offered its services to several covered entities. In early 2015, the OCR learned that not...