The Health Law Firm
NOVEMBER 17, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is hoping that a change in the law and the possibility of a big payout will encourage more whistle-blowers snitching to authorities. Few people are aware of this program. The IRS issued brand new regulations for its own whistle-blower program in August 2012.
The Health Law Firm
AUGUST 5, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law Embezzlement should be a concern to all healthcare facilities , medical practices and business owners. Part one of my embezzlement blog discussed the extent of embezzlement in the medical field, financial indicators of fraud, and the office criteria that fosters fraudulent activities.
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The Health Law Firm
JULY 30, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law. When his American Express Platinum Card with an unlimited credit line was declined, a doctor in DeBary, Florida, realized he had a big problem. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the office manager of the doctor's medical practice allegedly embezzled more than $136,000.
The Health Law Firm
DECEMBER 22, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law. This past year our firm has attended more medical industry events than ever before. Needless to say, our law firm table is not the most popular hangout spot. If we had a penny for every time we have heard "Yikes, an attorney! I hope I never need you." we could close our doors and all retire.
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The Health Law Firm
DECEMBER 11, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law Stop me if you've heard this one before: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently increased Medicare's authority over physicians and other health care providers. On December 3, 2014, CMS released these new anti-fraud measures. This matters to physicians and health care providers because Medicare now maintains the authority to deny or revoke the enrollment of medical providers for m
The Health Law Firm
NOVEMBER 24, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law and Michael L. Smith, R.R.T., J.D., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Through the 2015 Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Work Plan, the agency has revealed how it plans to carry out its mission to ensure the Medicare and Medicaid programs run more efficiently in the 2015 fiscal year.
Health Care Compliance Brief brings together the best content for health law & compliance professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
The Health Law Firm
NOVEMBER 11, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law. Even though a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security provisions does not allow a private civil cause of action, it does carry civil and criminal penalties. Anyone who is a health care professional or facility, or deals with a health care professional or facility, should be aware of these legal provisions.
The Health Law Firm
OCTOBER 29, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law We are constantly consulted by and retained to represent physicians, medical groups, pharmacies, durable medical equipment (DME) distributors and other Medicare providers on issues relating to deficiencies from site visits and inspections by Medicare contractors and on notices of termination of Medicare billing privileges.
The Health Law Firm
OCTOBER 22, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The United States Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments in North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission. The justices will determine whether professional regulatory boards should be exempt from federal antitrust laws and thus be allowed to eliminate low-cost competitors.
The Health Law Firm
OCTOBER 20, 2014
By Lance O. Leider, J.D., The Health Law Firm The Florida Mental Health Act, more commonly known as the Baker Act, was passed to allow for the creation of programs designed to "reduce the occurrence, severity, duration, and disabling aspects of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders." Section 394.453, Florida Statutes. The Baker Act contains a wide range of provisions ranging from screening to appointment of legal guardians.
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The Health Law Firm
OCTOBER 16, 2014
By Lenis L. Archer, J.D., M.P.H., The Health Law Firm In part one, I discussed how the recent United States Ebola crisis in Texas appeared to bolster the argument for those wary of the implementation of electronic health records (EHRs). To read that blog, click here. Health information technology (health IT) brings both opportunities and challenges for healthcare providers.
The Health Law Firm
OCTOBER 10, 2014
By Lenis L. Archer, J.D., M.P.H., The Health Law Firm The evolving world of electronic technology saturates every type of industry imaginable. Organizational communication and the resources utilized have come full circle; from paper and pens to iPads and keyboards. Healthcare is not excluded from this advancement. Conversion to electronic health records (EHRs) has been a hot topic in the healthcare world for years.
The Health Law Firm
OCTOBER 7, 2014
By Lance Leider, J.D., The Health Law Firm Taking Medicaid patients can be seen as a professional obligation for health care providers. In return, good deeds should not bankrupt a practice. There could soon be a resolution to a class-action lawsuit against Florida health and child-welfare officials that would adequately compensate physicians for treating children of poor families.
The Health Law Firm
OCTOBER 2, 2014
By Lenis L. Archer, J.D., M.P.H., The Health Law Firm Physicians and pharmacists: mark your calendars. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is reclassifying "hydrocodone combination products" from Schedule III to the more-restrictive Schedule II under the Controlled Substances Act. The final regulation will take effect on October 6, 2014. Upon the effective date, this change will have a widespread impact on healthcare professionals, particularly physicians and pharmacists.
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The Health Law Firm
SEPTEMBER 10, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law An issue we frequently handle is Office of Inspector General (OIG) exclusion from the Medicare program following a conviction for a healthcare-related offense. An OIG exclusion blocks a healthcare provider from working for any individual or entity that contracts with federally funded programs in any capacity.
The Health Law Firm
AUGUST 25, 2014
By Lenis L. Archer, J.D., M.P.H., The Health Law Firm The field of scientific research presents many challenges to academics. When research is performed on human subjects in a health care setting, the stakes are even higher. Allegations of research misconduct can throw academic researchers into a tangled web of institutional and legal challenges. University policies, federal regulations, and legal concerns overlap in ways that may become quite frustrating for a health practitioner and researcher
The Health Law Firm
AUGUST 21, 2014
By Lance O. Leider, J.D., The Health Law Firm From large hospital systems to solo practitioners, there is no escaping healthcare compliance in the industry. The concept of compliance can spark different thoughts in different people. For example, some believe it is an unnecessary government intrusion, and others believe it's a way to improve the quality and costs of healthcare.
The Health Law Firm
AUGUST 19, 2014
By Lance O. Leider, J.D., The Health Law Firm I regularly lecture to residents and interns of local hospital residency programs. I like to discuss life skills for health care professionals that they may not learn in a classroom. At the end of the discussion, it never fails that I get at least one question regarding text messaging. For example, "Can I text another doctor about a patient?
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FACIS® helps organizations mitigate patient and organizational risk. Maintaining compliance and safeguarding against fraud and abuse in today’s changing healthcare landscape can be challenging. Most healthcare organizations screen and monitor providers against the OIG but that’s only ONE of FACIS®’ primary sources. FACIS® pulls data for every taxonomy from the lowest level employee to the highest level licensed professional.
The Health Law Firm
AUGUST 12, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law During the 2014 session, the Florida legislature passed Senate Bill 1030 or the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014. The bill was signed into law by Florida Governor Rick Scott on June 16, 2014. The law makes it legal for qualified Florida patients to take low-THC cannabis in liquid form.
The Health Law Firm
JULY 28, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law Physicians, dentists, nurses and other health professionals, accused of wrongdoing, may be referred to or receive recommendations from colleagues to refer themselves to the Professionals Resource Network (PRN) or the Intervention Project for Nurses (IPN). This is often done by someone who has absolutely no idea about these programs or what they require.
The Health Law Firm
JULY 23, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law We are frequently consulted by family members or friends of individuals who are erroneously confined under Florida's Baker Act or the Marchman Act. An erroneous confinement under the Baker Act can occur for a number of different reasons. However, the result is that an independent citizen is confined in violation of his constitutional rights to liberty and privacy.
The Health Law Firm
JULY 21, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law We are frequently consulted by family members of individuals who are erroneously confined under Florida's Baker Act, Section 394.451, Florida Statutes. An erroneous confinement under the Baker Act can occur for a number of different reasons. However, the result is that an independent citizen is confined in violation of his constitutional rights to liberty and privacy.
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The Health Law Firm
JULY 15, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The scientific journal, Nature, retracted two high-profile stem-cell research studies due to signs of inadequate data and plagiarism. According to Tech Times, researchers from the RIKEN Center for Development Biology in Kobe, Japan, published results on January 30, 2014, claiming that scientists of the institute had successfully reprogrammed mature cells into young stem-cells.
The Health Law Firm
JULY 11, 2014
By Catherine T. Hollis, J.D., The Health Law Firm and George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law According to the United States Medical Licensing Examination ( USMLE ) 2014 Bulletin of Information, individuals are permitted to attempt the same Step Exam or Step Exam Component a maximum of six times. All attempts, including incomplete attempts, are counted toward the limit, regardless of when they were taken.
The Health Law Firm
JUNE 30, 2014
By Lenis L. Archer, J.D., M.P.H. A drop off of private patient files to a physician quickly turned into what may be one of the most expensive deliveries in healthcare regulatory history. In 2009, employees of Parkview Health System, a nonprofit organization with hospitals in Indiana and northwest Ohio, left 71 cardboard boxes of private patient medical records in the driveway of a retiring physician.
The Health Law Firm
JUNE 24, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) continues to crackdown, at least in Florida, on physicians and pharmacists suspected of prescribing and dispensing narcotics. We believe this effort is a continuation of the campaign against "pill mills" and the pharmacies that fill prescriptions written by them.
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The Health Law Firm
JUNE 20, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law When I served with the federal government, a frequent saying used over and over was: "It's better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission." This may be what Adventist Health System is hoping for in making its latest self-disclosure to the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
The Health Law Firm
JUNE 18, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law "A menace to society," "board-certified in medical fraud," "one of the most dangerous doctors I've seen in a long time." These are some of the harsh words coming from the Florida Board of Medicine. The Board used those statements to describe a Sarasota, Florida, urologist who specializes in prostate problems.
The Health Law Firm
JUNE 10, 2014
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law Always be wary of asking "could it get any worse?" Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, is proof that a situation always has the possibility of taking a darker turn. On May 27, 2014, the federal judge overseeing the ongoing Halifax whistleblower/qui tam court cases ruled that the medical center wrongfully destroyed documents and files that were central to the upcoming trial.
The Health Law Firm
JUNE 6, 2014
By Lance O. Leider, J.D., The Health Law Firm. Under a rule finalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on May 19, 2014, doctors and other health care professionals will be required to enroll in the Medicare program, or have a valid opt-out affidavit on file, for prescriptions to be covered under Part D. The new requirement takes effect on June 1, 2015.
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