Over the past several months, many clients have reached out to us with questions like, can an employer require their employees to take a COVID vaccine as a condition of employment? According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as... Read More
On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order (EO) containing 72 directives to more than a dozen federal agencies, many of which have broad implications for healthcare. Specifically targeted are healthcare competition, hospital mergers,... Read More
A recent settlement highlights the potential perils associated with hospitals’ employment of physicians, where excessive compensation to physicians is deemed to be a reward for referrals in violation of Federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”)... Read More
The Whistleblower Exception protects a covered entity from being considered to have committed a breach if the whistleblower is a member of the covered entity’s workforce and is the victim of a crime. In a recent article in Relias Media called,... Read More
Over the last 10 years the percentage of physicians that are directly employed by hospitals or by hospital owned medical practices has continued to grow. Physicians encounter obstacles in their attempts to preserve independence. One major obstacle... Read More
On June 12, 2021, a federal District Court in Texas dismissed a case filed by employees of Houston Methodist Hospital’s (the “Hospital”) challenging the Hospital’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. Bridges, et al v. Houston Methodist... Read More
Self-regulation by the medical profession is separate and distinct from the conventional rules exercised by the judicial system. Peer review and disciplinary matters are generally heard before the Medical Executive Committee (“MEC”) at Hospitals... Read More
Earlier this year, we discussed the impact of mandatory “white bagging” on providers, and more importantly, patients. Briefly, white bagging is a practice where a medication is ordered by a physician for in-office administration (e.g., IV... Read More
The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) continues to bring enforcement actions against entities it alleges have infringed on a patient’s right to timely access their records in violation of the Health... Read More
In October 2020, Frier Levitt described how the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) and the FBI announced an “increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers.” Since that time,... Read More
