September, 2016

article thumbnail

Community Health Exploring Options Including the Possible Sale of Its Business

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On September 16, 2016, Community Health System Inc. (CHS), one of the largest US hospital chains, announced that it is exploring the possibility of a deal to sell the company. The struggling Tennessee-based company announced "very preliminary" discussions with advisers to consider all of its options.

article thumbnail

HHS Announces Hefty Increase in Civil Monetary Penalties

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On September 16, 2016, the US Health and Human Services (HHS) announced new updates that would require health care organizations to pay heftier penalties if they violate federal regulations. HHS is seeking maximum penalties and adjustments reflects multiple years of inflation.

40
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

CMS's Pre-Claim Review Project for Home Health Agencies Delayed Indefinitely For Florida

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is implementing a three-year Medicare Pre-Claim Review Demonstration for Home Health Services in the states of Illinois, Florida, and Texas Michigan and Massachusetts. The CMS Pre-Claim Review Demonstration officially began in Illinois on August 3, 2016, however, early information received from Illinois, has caused a change of plans.

article thumbnail

Judge Rules Against Wal-Mart For a New Trial in $16 Million Gender Bias Suit

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On September 16, 2016, a New Hampshire federal judge ruled against Wal-Mart’s request for a new trial after a fired store pharmacist won about $16.2 million in a gender discrimination case. The judge did however, request clarification from a state court on the company's request to limit enhanced compensatory damages to $15 million and reduce the front-pay award.

40
article thumbnail

Optimizing Medical Waste Management: A Guide to Best Practices

Feeling overwhelmed by medical waste regulations? This comprehensive guide unravels the complexities of medical waste disposal, ensuring you stay compliant and prioritize safety. Inside you'll find: Clear categorization: Learn to precisely classify medical waste for proper handling and disposal. Labeling & Storage: Discover best practices for clear labeling and secure storage of medical waste.

article thumbnail

Big Surprise! California Doctors And Hospitals Can’t Agree Over Role Of Nurse-Midwives

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On August 8, 2016, a California bill was announced that would allow certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) to practice in hospitals independently. It is apparently upsetting many of teh state's physicians. The California Hospital Association and the California Medical Association (which represents doctors), agree that nurse-midwives have the training and qualifications to practice without physician supervisio

Nurses 40
article thumbnail

New Florida Rules Shorten Required Hours For Community Pharmacies and Change Start of Business Requirements

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The Florida Board of Pharmacy (BOP) amended its rules regarding community pharmacies following a request for relief by industry health care professionals. The amended rules include shortening community pharmacy hours of operation from 40 to 20 hours per week, pharmacy delays to open business after the receipt of a permit and changes regarding ownership.

40

More Trending

article thumbnail

Former Connecticut Dentist Ordered To Pay $700k For Medicaid Billing Scheme

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On August 11, 2016, a former dentist in Connecticut and his practice were ordered to pay more than $700,000 in restitution and civil penalties for improperly billing the state Medicaid program for pediatric dental cleanings and fluoride treatments. Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen says a Superior Court judge ruled that Dr.

article thumbnail

Dentists File Class Action Lawsuit Against 3M over Faulty Dental Crown Materials

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law In April and May 2016, dentists from Florida, Georgia and Texas filed a class action lawsuits. Six suits have been filed in federal court in Minnesota against the Minneapolis-based 3M Co. ([link] These have been consolidated by the federal court. Each of the complaints in these six cases alleges that 3M's Lava Ultimate restorative material used to make dental crowns chair-side by dentists was defective

40
article thumbnail

It is Always a Bad Idea For a Doctor To.

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law In my 30 plus years of practice representing physicians, dentists, nurses and psychotherapists, I have defended clients involved in many different situations. Several of these seem to be problem areas which we see repeatedly. Following is a list of those problems which it would seem to be common sense for a physician or other health care professional to avoid doing.

Doctors 40
article thumbnail

DOJ and OIG Use Complex Data Analysis To Find Medicare Fraudsters

The Health Law Firm

By Miles O. Indest, J.D./M.B.A.; Law Clerk, The Health Law Firm Since the 1990s, the credit-card industry has successfully used predictive analytics to find suspicious patterns and protect consumers from fraudulent charges. The health care industry has found a similar success in recent years, as federal agents use data mining, predictive analytics, and other modeling approaches to catch Medicare fraud.

article thumbnail

HIPAA Compliance: Can Your Organization Avoid Costly Government Penalties and Fines?

Colington Consulting was established in 2013 and helps organizations achieve HIPAA compliance and ensures clients stay current with the latest enforcement trends. We provide a full range of HIPAA compliance services and consulting. What separates us from our competitors is our knowledge of HIPAA compliance regulations and their application to each of our client’s particular scenarios and requirements.

article thumbnail

Does This Drug Make People Irresponsible Zombies?

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The smoking-cessation drug Chantix has come into the spotlight and allegedly played a crucial role in a second violent crime. On August 8, 2016, a Maryland man was reported to have been found not criminally responsible for shooting his wife in their home in 2014 because he was found to be suffering from “involuntary intoxication” due to the drug Chantix.

40
article thumbnail

Early Bird Whistleblowers May Block Third Whistleblower From $18M FCA Deal

The Health Law Firm

By Miles O. Indest, J.D./M.B.A.; Law Clerk, The Health Law Firm On August 16, 2016, two whistleblowers asked a Colorado federal court to disqualify a third whistleblower from sharing in a $18 million False Claims Act settlement award with OptumHealth. Evercare LLC (now known as OptumHealth) had allegedly submitted false Medicare claims for hospice care on behalf of patients who were not in fact terminally ill.

article thumbnail

Texas Jury Finds Doctor Responsible for Harassment of Nurse Despite Settlement Being Reached

The Health Law Firm

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On August 9, 2016, a licensed vocational nurse in Texas who alleged she was bullied and sexually harassed by a doctor at work was vindicated when a $440,000 settlement was reached between the parties. Patricia Hahn alleged the harassment she received from Dr.

Doctors 40
article thumbnail

Ninth Circuit Upholds Whistleblower Complaint Against Health Insurance Giants

The Health Law Firm

By Miles O. Indest, J.D./M.B.A.; Law Clerk, The Health Law Firm In a David and Goliath legal battle, a whistleblower recently won a small victory against several large insurance companies accused of defrauding the Medicare Advantage Program. Ignorance Was Bliss: Medicare Payments for Over-Coded Diagnoses. On August 10, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously ordered United Healthcare, WellPoint, Aetna, and other health insurance providers to answer whistleblowe

article thumbnail

The Big Payoff of Application Analytics

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.