Health Care Clinics Targeted For Medical Director Requirements

By: Zach Simpson

There have been a rise in cases recently, in which practices that operate under a Health Care Clinic License have been brought under scrutiny by insurance companies trying to recoup funds through any means possible. In an effort to claw back funds insurance companies are beginning to claim that medical directors are failing to meet their statutory obligations under Florida Law which in turn can have serious monetary repercussions. Due to the clinics allegedly failing to meet their statutory obligations the insurance companies are filing suit to recoup any payments made while violating the Health Care Clinic Act obligations, and to stall any future payments due until such cases are heard.

By law, a medical director must be a health care practitioner that holds an active and unencumbered Florida license as a medical physician, osteopathic physician, chiropractic physician, or podiatric physician. The type of services provided at a clinic may dictate who would be able to serve as a clinic’s medical director, because a medical director must be authorized under the law to supervise all services provided at the clinic.

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Health Care Clinic Law Basics for Medical Businesses

HCCLBy: Jeff Cohen

The Florida Health Care Clinic License (HCCL) law was created in 2001 to create accountability of healthcare businesses that are not owned by certain healthcare providers (e.g. physicians).  The legislative thinking behind the law was that laypeople who acquire healthcare businesses that bill insurance companies have nothing to lose by “getting it (anything) wrong.”  By attaching the license requirement to the lay owned business, those business people have to pay close attention to regulatory details, or they risk losing their HCCL and the ability operate their business.  Accountability!Continue reading