We offer updates on national on regional issues such as malpractice defense, regulatory compliance, labor and employment issues and estate planning.
Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard’s Long Term Care Team is tracking certain bills passing through the Missouri legislature. One of those bills that could greatly impact our clients is HB 2107 outlined below.
Today, the HHS Press office released notice of a settlement of $800,000 with Parkview Health System, Inc. (Parkview) for potential HIPAA violations. This settlement relates to a complaint going back to September 2008, when Parkview received between 5,000-8,000 patient records from a retiring physician. Parkview received the medical records as part of the physician’s transition to retirement, while Parkview decided whether to purchase some of the physician’s practice.
Adult & Pediatric Dermatology, P.C., of Concord, Mass., (APDerm) has agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules with the Department of Health and Human Services, agreeing to a $150,000 payment. APDerm will also be required to implement a corrective action plan to correct deficiencies in its HIPAA compliance program. APDerm is a private practice that delivers dermatology services in four locations in Massachusetts and two in New Hampshire. This case marks the first settlement with a covered entity for not having policies and procedures in place to address the breach notification provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, passed as part of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
In an era where long-term care facilities are increasingly implementing the use of electronic medical records, facilities need to be aware of the issues that might come into play during litigation.
Last December Missouri House Representative Bill White introduced HB 100, titled the Adult Health Care Consent Act. This bill attempts to specify the order of priority of persons entitled to make health care decisions for an individual who has been certified as physically and cognitively unable to consent to his or her own health care.