Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Product liability claims can be devastating. Products liability claims are generally defined as claims for personal injury or property damage caused by equipment. The legal theories for which a selling dealer may be liable can range from strict liability to negligence to breach of warranty. Selling used equipment carries additional risk just based upon the […]
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently issued written guidance on the obligations health care providers face under HIPAA to couples in legally valid same-sex marriages. United States v. Windsor Ruling As previously drafted, Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defined marriage (for federal […]
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Product liability claims can be devastating. When people are injured by equipment or the equipment causes damage to property, millions of dollars can be at stake. This is a recurring issue and all dealers pay for these claims either through direct exposure or increased insurance premiums. Although not all risk can be eliminated, there are […]
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
On September 18, 2014 the U.S. Attorney’s office announced that MidwestNeurosurgeons, LLC and it’s owner Dr. Sonjay Fonn and DS Medical, LLC and it’s owner, Deborah Seeger, were indicted for allegedly violating the Medicare Anti-Kickback Statue. Their story is an example of the enforcement agencies’ focus upon physician owned medical device distributors and an important […]
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
All dealers have experienced customers that complain about the equipment they purchased from you. Before you make a decision on how to respond, you will likely ask two questions: What is the right thing to do for the customer relationship? What is my liability if I can’t satisfy the customer? If your decision is based […]
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
A recent article in Modern Healthcare gives necessary attention to PhysicianOwned Distributorships, or “PODs,” which are companies owned by physicians that sell medical devices to hospitals and outpatient surgery centers. In many situations, the POD’s physician owners are the same physicians who use the devices the facility purchases from the POD. Special Fraud Alert: […]
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Has anyone ever advised you to read the fine print in a contract before you sign it? While this advice is always sound, if you are like most people, you don’t typically follow this advice. The print on the back of the contract is small and usually difficult to understand. However, when it comes to […]
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
We’ve discussed businesses associates before and the need for hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers to have proper business associate agreements in place with third party vendors handling protected health information. In today’s post, we want to highlight the recent termination of a transitional compliance period, which ended on September 22, 2014. Extended […]
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
The U.S. House of Representatives have taken the first step towards providingrelief to health care providers from CMS rules. Under existing rules all hospitals, including critical-access hospitals and rural hospitals, must have a doctor or non-physician practitioner immediately available during any time a hospital provides outpatient therapeutic services. The doctor is not required to be […]
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
The Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (“AHRQ”) has released a guide to decrease hospital readmissions while providing better care to adults in Medicaid. The Hospital Guide to Reducing Medicaid Readmissions has been released after a two-year study was performed, using an evidence-based approach to provide recommendations for hospitals to reduce readmissions. The report […]