Healthcare regulations seem to grow more complex with every passing year. Doctors are expected to know, and comply with, an alphabet soup of federal statutes and associated regulations governing everything from employment to patient privacy to personal finances, and everything in between. In order to simplify matters, we have prepared the following summary of the federal statutes we most often encounter in our practice.
Continue reading The Key Federal Statutes Regulating DoctorsTag Archives: Arizona healthcare law
Concierge Medicine: The Return of the House Call
Many physicians, frustrated by the bureaucracy of modern medical practice, the financial pressure to shorten appointments and limit face time with patients, and the delays and hassle of dealing with health insurers for reimbursement, are increasingly turning to concierge medical practices as an alternative. Under this business model, patients pay a set annual fee for unlimited (or nearly unlimited) access to a private primary care physician, many of whom will even make house calls for minor illnesses, injuries and physicals.
Continue reading Concierge Medicine: The Return of the House Call
Navigating the Regulatory Environment for Doctors Part 5 – HIPAA Security and Breach Notification
In our last post we started our discussion of HIPAA, the federal law governing patient privacy, with a look at HIPAA’s Privacy Rule. HIPAA is intended to impose nationwide standards on doctors in protecting patient privacy and pre-empts, or supersedes, any conflicting state laws. Therefore, Arizona’s patient privacy laws largely defer to federal law on the issue.[1]
Penalties for Violating the Stark Law
In our previous posts, we looked at the underlying purpose behind the Stark law against doctor self-referrals, the scope of the Stark law, and the ways in which the Stark law can be violated. This final post in the series will look at what happens if you run afoul of the Stark law.
The Scope of the Stark Law’s Prohibitions
In our previous post, we examined the origins and rationale underlying the Stark Law’s prohibition against physician self-referral. In this post, we look at exactly what the Stark Law prohibits.
Forming A Practice Group Part 3: Planning For The Unexpected
In an ideal world, partners in a medical or dental practice would work until they are ready to retire, then sell their interest in the practice to their other partners or to a new doctor in a seamless transition. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. Although it can be a difficult topic to discuss, one of the most important issues to consider when forming a practice is to plan what to do if you or one of your partners suddenly dies or becomes unable to continue practicing.
If you do not plan ahead, and one of your partners unexpectedly becomes unable to practice, you could face considerable disruption and uncertainty in your practice. Even more important, you or your family could lose your investment in the practice if you die or become disabled. Although the havoc caused by a sudden death or disability cannot be entirely avoided, it can be minimized by careful planning and drafting of the practice’s formation documents.
Continue reading Forming A Practice Group Part 3: Planning For The Unexpected