Posts Tagged ‘Healthcare’

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights finalized its finding this month that a physicians’ group violated the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The agency has imposed a monetary penalty of $4.3 million for the violations, representing the first monetary penalty issued by the agency for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.  The increased penalty amounts were imposed under Section 13410(d) of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which took effect in October 2009 and was intended to supplement and help enforce HIPAA.

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NEW RULES ON CORPORATE DISCLOSURE MAY SPELL THE END OF HIDE AND SEEK BY NURSING HOMES

In recent years thousands of nursing homes across the nation have been purchased by large Wall Street private equity companies.  Unfortunately, the pattern has been that, once purchased, the private investors cut expenses and staff often below the legal minimum requirements.

Further, those companies have set up Byzantine structures to attempt to insulate themselves from liability and break up their corporations into innumerable LLC’s so that no one can determine who actually is responsible.  In bringing such lawsuits for elder abuse against nursing homes here in Northern California, we have often had to spend a substantial amount of time simply figuring out who actually owns and controls the skilled nursing facility.

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Complying with HIPAA and Responding to a California Criminal Subpoena for Patient Medical Records

If you’re a healthcare provider in Humboldt County,  no doubt you are aware of the complex framework of state and federal laws designed to ensure the privacy of patient records.   On occasion, healthcare providers receive requests to produce documents or testify in criminal cases.   Generally, in California, there is no doctor-patient privilege in criminal proceedings.   However, the state and federal statutes that govern the privacy of patient records still control.   It’s a bit of a maze, and one that probably takes hiring counsel to navigate.

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On September 10, 2010 the Honorable W. Bruce Watson granted preliminary approval to the settlement of the longest civil trial in Humboldt County history.   The settlement comes after the jury returned a $677 million dollar verdict in July.   Plaintiffs’ counsel Timothy Needham and Michael Crowley advised the Eureka Times-Standard that they were confident the settlement was in the best interest of the class given the threat of bankruptcy that faced the nursing home entity after the verdict was announced, and given that the court’s injunction order will guarantee adequate staffing in Skilled Health’s facilities.

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Among the many important functions of the Humboldt-Del Norte County Medical Society is ongoing educational programs for health care professionals of Humboldt and Del Norte counties.  The next in the series of Risk Management Seminars will take place on October 1, 2009, and the subject matter will be “Anatomy of a Lawsuit.”  Presenters will include Risk Management and Claims professionals from Norcal Mutual Insurance Company and attorney Michael Morrison of the Janssen Law Firm in Eureka, CA.

As lessons will be drawn from actual, closed medical malpractice cases, health care professionals will have the opportunity to learn the “easy way” from the “hard lessons” of others.   Mr. Morrison’s extensive experience in representing physicians and allied health professionals in Humboldt County, Del Norte County and adjoining counties will assure local and practical advice during the presentation.  Mr. Morrison will also be available to answer questions from the attendees.

For more information please contact the Janssen Law Firm or Ms.  Penny Figas, Executive Director of the Humboldt-Del Norte County Medical Society.