Legal developments affecting the healthcare industry.
By: Sara Jodka As the healthcare industry has expanded to providing home healthcare services, more service providers are allowing their employees to work remotely, i.e., telecommuting. The flexibility for healthcare workers to work from anywhere with an Internet connection has some advantages, but it also has many dangerous disadvantages. One specific disadvantage in the healthcare …
Continue reading “Telecommuting Healthcare Employees Get Employers in HIPAA Compliance Hot Water”
Two recent Tax Court cases raise caution flags as to the deductibility of shareholder compensation by medical, dental and other professional practice groups organized as professional corporations (PCs) or professional associations (PAs) that are taxed as “C” corporations for federal tax purposes. In each case, on audit, the IRS sought to disallow deductions for a …
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By: Denise H. Troy In Gullett v. Kindred Nursing Centers West, ___ Ariz. ___, 758 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 12 (App. 2017),the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that an arbitration agreement between a patient and a convalescent hospital was enforceable over a challenge that it is was unfairly one-sided. Mr. Gullett signed an arbitration agreement at …
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by Ralph Levy, Of Counsel Nashville Office 615.620.1733 rlevy@dickinsonwright.com Group medical and dental practices often look to expand their practices by hiring additional professionals, typically those with less experience than the equity owners of the practice group. Invariably, both the group practice and the potential new hire will insist on an employment agreement …
Sure, you’ve been feeling well (except for those few holiday pounds that you’re working on). Sure, you’ve been taking the stairs, well, mostly. But, are your employment policies keeping up with your fitness regimen? Are your first-line managers trained in the latest policy pitfalls? Sometimes, handbook or training “makeover” resolutions suffer the same fate as …
Continue reading “Is it Time to Give Your Employee Handbook a Check-Up?”
By: Craig Hammond Health care providers with facilities financed with tax exempt bonds need to be aware of recent changes to the IRS rules for qualified management contracts. On August 22, 2016, the IRS issued Rev. Proc. 2016-44 which replaced the safe harbors for management contracts previously set forth in Rev. Proc. 97-13 with new …
This blog summarizes the original article written by Brian Fleetham. For more information, please read the entire article that will be published in mid-February for the Kent County Medical Society quarterly newsletter, Winter 2017. As part of a flurry of activity at the end of 2016, Public Act 379 was enacted by the Michigan legislature …
Continue reading “Expansion of Practice Autonomy of Physician Assistants Summary”
By: Rose Willis Recently the Wall Street Journal stated the New England Journal of Medicine published an op-ed by President Obama in which he critiqued the Republicans’ strategy to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and then replace it at a future date. Obama stated, “This approach of ‘repeal first and replace later’ is, simply put, …
Since this is the Information Age, it should come as no surprise that more employees are working remotely, i.e., telecommuting. The flexibility to work from anywhere allows employees to work offsite, including from home, public transportation system, airport, coffee shop, etc. While such flexibility certainly has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages. One specific …
Continue reading “HIPAA Compliance in the Telecommuting Age”
By Timothy M. Cary New overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act set to go into effect on December 1, 2016, have been halted by a federal court in Texas. In State of Nevada v. U.S. Department of Labor, the court granted a preliminary injunction in favor of a group of twenty-one states who …
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