Read an article by Board Certified Healthcare Lawyer Karen Davila on mandatory vaccination policies in healthcare businesses.
Continue readingStrategies for Successful Implementation of Mandatory Vaccine Policy for Your Workforce (Part 1)
DOJ Makes Third Revision to its Compliance Guidance in as Many Years
By: Jacqueline Bain
In the beginning of June, 2020, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) revised its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs Guidance Document. The Document is designed to assist prosecutors in making informed decisions as to whether, and to what extent, the company’s compliance program is effective for purposes of determining, when a compliance violation has occurred, the appropriate form of any resolution or prosecution and monetary penalty. It also guides a prosecutor as to the company’s compliance obligations contained in any criminal resolution. The Document has been revised on three occasions since 2017, telegraphing the DOJ’s intent to prosecute those businesses without compliance plans, or without effective compliance plans, more harshly than those taking steps to identify and remedy risks.
A healthcare business’ failure to have in place a compliance program designed to detect and respond to potential fraud and security risks places it at a serious risk of civil and criminal liability. When a compliance issue is investigated, charged and resolved, DOJ prosecutors are instructed to consider whether the business has invested in and improved its corporate compliance program and internal controls systems. They must also determine whether those improvements have been tested to demonstrate that they would prevent or detect similar misconduct in the future. According to the DOJ, there are three fundamental questions that a prosecutor should ask when determining whether a business’ compliance plan is sound: Continue reading
What’s Missing From Your Physician Employment Contract?
By: Chase Howard
The average physician employment contract exceeds twenty pages, not including exhibits. While they all include basic terms related to compensation, length and restrictions, many simply do not contemplate important terms that have serious impacts on physician’s daily lives. A physician’s first employment contract is the most significant financial decision of their lifetime. The same can be said for each subsequent contract, which means that understanding, and negotiating, your contract is the most valuable investment you can make prior to entering into a contract.
To understand what’s in your employment contract, simply read it over a few times. To understand not only how those terms affect you, but also what isn’t in your contract, hire an experienced health care lawyer.Continue reading
Medical Practices & MedSpa Startups: Corporate Considerations
By: Chase Howard
Deciding you want to open your own medspa or start a medical practice is the first and most important step in creating something unique and building a brand. Understanding how to properly “start” that business from a legal perspective, and doing so correctly can be the difference between success and failure.
As a physician in a private, solo-practice, or the business owner of a medspa startup, proper strategy is key. Understanding your corporate structure, developing a business plan, and compliance with the laws will help eliminate pesky obstacles that will slow your growth.
When working with start-ups the following steps should be given plenty of time and attention.Continue reading
Selling a Medical Practice: Business Broker Listing Agreement Basics
By: Amanda Bhikhari
Many physician groups and health care companies will enter the market at some point to sell their business. In the rare case, the selling group will already have a buyer who is ready and willing to pay and close on the business sale. More often than not however, most sellers will utilize the services of a business broker to help find a suitable buyer, and will compensate the broker on a commission basis upon closing. Unlike real estate closings, whereby the main concern is the title of the property being conveyed, medical practice sales require much more detailed representation on all aspects of the business, including but not limited to, real property, existing contracts, existing patients, and medical equipment.
Before signing a business broker listing agreement, ensure that the following points are considered to avoid potential pitfalls:Continue reading
Complicated Relationships: Medical Director Contract, Marketing Agreement, Healthcare Consulting
By: Jacqueline Bain
Healthcare providers often have more than one relationship with each other. For instance, a physician may be employed by a hospital and also provide that hospital with medical director services. Or a healthcare consultant may also be a healthcare provider’s landlord. Oftentimes, these types of relationships are each memorialized in one or several contracts between the parties. And while, on their face, these contracts may seem to be compliant with applicable healthcare laws, when examined together, compliance and other contract issues may arise.Continue reading
Starting Healthcare Business: What to Consider
By: Jeff Cohen
As a healthcare business lawyer, I’ve seen nearly everything entrepreneurs think might be a good idea. They usually come to me when starting a healthcare business with questions like:
- Do you like an LLC better than an Inc., and if so why;
- Does the Stark Law (or the Anti-Kickback Statute) allow us to do this?;
- Is it ok to allocate ownership and profit distribution differently?;
- Will insurers pay for this?; and
- WWMT? (What Would Medicare Think?).
These are great questions. And they’re off base. In fact, they’re not only off base. They’re also out of order. Here’s one for you–Continue reading
Healthcare Business Operations: LLCs Get Back to Basics
By: Shobha Lizaso
When considering optimization of healthcare business operations it is important to remember Limited Liability Companies are fundamentally just partnerships with added liability protection. The LLC structure offers liability protection called charging order protection, which prevents your (or your partners’) personal creditors from seizing your business or its assets to settle personal debts. Since LLCs were designed to be partnerships, you are expected to adhere to some basic partnership rules – most importantly, you should have partners. Running an LLC with no partners opens you up to liability.Continue reading
Protecting Your Medical Practice’s Brand: Trademark Basics
By: Shobha Lizaso
Building a medical practice trademark brand image is extremely important in today’s technology-driven economy. Because of social media, online advertising, and the availability of online reviews, local healthcare providers need to engage at a higher degree than ever before to attract new patients, retain current patients, and establish themselves as experts in their respective fields.
Patients choose providers based on specializations, reputation, and quality of care, so the first step in branding is selecting and registering the trademarks for your practice. Trademarks are the names, slogans, tag lines, and/or logos that identify and represent your practice, its services, and mission to the public, and are the foundation for the facility’s overall branding and marketing strategy. In addition to the trademarks associated with your main practice, you may also use trademarks to protect your stake in a specific area or a specific area of expertise. For example, the trademark and logos used for a hospital’s senior services might be different than one used for its cardiac care services. If you do not protect your trademark, a competitor could use it or something similar, which could confuse your patients and potentially draw business away from your practice..
Do you really need to register your trademarks? Consider the following:Continue reading
HIPAA Compliance: Docs, You’ve Been Hacked. What’s Next?
By: Jacqueline Bain
Healthcare providers have heard the HIPAA disaster stories: a laptop containing patient information is left on the counter at the coffee shop; a thumb drive with patient files goes missing; a rogue employee accesses patient information she has no business accessing; hackers get into a practice’s server and hold the patient information for ransom.
HIPAA is a federal law designed for safe disclosure of patient’s protected health information. The news headlines showcase giant penalties for violations. However, Florida healthcare providers should also know that Florida has its own consumer protection statute, called the Florida Information Protection Act. So while you’re busy worrying about your HIPAA exposure in any of these situations, remember that there is potential State exposure as well.
So what should a healthcare provider do if it believes there has been a hack or some other unauthorized disclosure? Responses vary based on the situation presented, but below is a good jumping off point:Continue reading