A September 29 ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court effectively makes a health facility liable for the professional negligence of a medical staff member who doesn’t have malpractice insurance or who has insurance that doesn’t cover the acts in question. Dr. Kaul performed a spinal fusion on Jim Jarrell at …
Fitbit Agrees to Sign Business Associate Agreements and Take on HIPAA Compliance
September 21, 2015 Leave a Comment
Is your Fitbit data covered by HIPAA? It depends upon where you got it (kind of). If you go to the store and pick up a Fitbit on your own, the data it generates is governed by the user agreement that you click through (which I’m sure everyone read carefully). If your health plan or employer, through its …
Third Cir. Holds Hospitals May Sue Health Insurers Directly
September 14, 2015 Leave a Comment
Before September 11 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals had been out of step with its sister federal circuits when it came to the right of hospitals, physicians and other health providers to sue health insurers that failed to cover patient obligations. So back in 2014 when North Jersey Brain & Spine Center …
When Is a Hospital Not a Hospital?
July 30, 2015 Leave a Comment
When is a hospital not a hospital? The Fifth Circuit provided an answer in a July 29 decision in favor of a nurse seeking insurance coverage for medical treatment at a residential treatment facility. Rebecca was a nurse at North Cypress Medical Center, in Texas. Back in 2011 she was treated for an eating …
Insurer Escapes Antitrust Suit, But Hospital Must Continue the Fight
June 2, 2015 Leave a Comment
A large regional health insurer extricated itself from an antitrust suit, leaving the dominant local hospital to square off alone versus an ambulatory surgical center (ASC). The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois dismissed exclusive dealing allegations against BlueCross and BlueShield of …
CFO’s Thirst for Wine Club Invitation Costs Hospital Millions
November 19, 2014 Leave a Comment
You can’t make this stuff up. Last Monday a federal court in Rhode Island ordered two insurance companies to pay a $30 million claim by hospital management company Lifespan Corp. Lifespan filed the claim after being ordered in an earlier suit to pay that amount to New England Medical Center and the …