The Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) submitted written comments on November 2nd to South Carolina’s state legislature on the competitive impact of proposals to modify the supervision requirements for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in the state. While the FTC approved of a state bill that …
A Recap of National Health IT Week
October 12, 2015 Leave a Comment
National Health IT Week wrapped up on Friday. This may have been the most eventful week in the ten year history of the event, which is organized by the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Below are a few of the highlights (each of which could likely carry its own blog post): Stage 3 …
Health Facilities May Be Insuring Doctors without Knowing It
October 7, 2015 Leave a Comment
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 …
Ky. Ruling Casts Doubt on Health Care Arbitration Agreements
October 1, 2015 Leave a Comment
Health care institutions in Kentucky may want to take a fresh look at their patient arbitration provisions, in light of a September 24 decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court. Out-of-state institutions may want to take a look, as well. In three cases personal representatives or survivors sued nursing homes for …
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 …
Two More Hospitals Qualify for Exception to Exception to Grandfather Exception to Elimination of Whole Hospital Exception to Stark Law Prohibition
September 17, 2015 Leave a Comment
The Stark Law generally prohibits physicians from referring Medicare and Medicaid patients to facilities in which they have an ownership interest. There used to be a “whole hospital exception” excluding entire hospitals (as contrasted to departments or parts of hospitals) from the prohibition. The …