Legal developments affecting the healthcare industry.
By Ralph Levy, Jr. and Brian Fleetham Physicians who are involved in the financial management of their practices are all too familiar with the year-end scramble to “zero out” the corporation’s profits. Under this technique, a physician practice that is structured as a “C” corporation will, after paying all of its year-end expenses, distribute its …
Continue reading “Renewed Perils from “Zeroing Out” a Corporation at Year-End”
By Timothy Cary When health care providers provide copies of medical records to an individual patient or to third parties at the direction of that individual patient, they are permitted under HIPAA to recover “a reasonable, cost-based fee.” Health care providers have generally determined this fee by relying on a schedule established by state statute, …
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Dickinson Wright Attorneys Greg Moore, Russell Kolsrud, Peter Domas, Serene Zeni, and Alexandra Hall wrote and edited The Fundamentals of Behavioral Health Care Law, which is now available through the American Health Lawyers Association. With more than 50 years of combined experience, Dickinson Wright’s Behavioral Health Care lawyers continue to guide their clients through the …
Continue reading “Dickinson Wright’s Behavioral Health Care Group Writes Book for AHLA”
By Rose Willis Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. Recently, the Federal Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Final Rule clarifying existing nondiscrimination requirements and setting forth new standards implementing Section 1557 (the “Final Rule”). Among other things, the …
Join Dickinson Wright’s international healthcare team of attorneys for “The Alphabet Soup of Healthcare: Let’s Dig In!” webinar on Wednesday, September 28, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. This comprehensive half-day webinar will cover topics such as cybersecurity, behavioral health, compliance, telemedicine, strategic alliances and compensation structures. Topics that will be discussed include: Humans: …
Continue reading “The Alphabet Soup of Healthcare: Let’s Dig In!”
On April 5, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released new guidance for mobile apps directed towards providing health-related services and information. This guidance was developed with numerous other agencies, including the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), to assist app developers in complying with federal healthcare law. One of the paramount concerns with mobile apps …
By Alexandra Hall & Jessica Russell The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Parity Act) requires health plans to provide the same coverage for mental health conditions as they provide for physical conditions, and that financial requirements and treatment limitations applicable to mental health and substance use disorder benefits be no more restrictive than …
Continue reading “Recent Developments in Mental Health Benefit Denials”
By Rose Willis A U.S. government interagency report indicates that there has been a 300 percent increase in the daily ransomware attacks in 2016 as compared to 2015. Ransomware is malicious software that, when introduced into a system, gives a hacker access to the user’s system, and the ability to encrypt data and hold it …
Continue reading “New HIPAA Guidance on Ransomware Prevention and Recovery”
Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that the firm’s healthcare practice group is ranked 35 on Modern Healthcare’s Largest Healthcare Law Firms list. Dickinson Wright is the only Michigan-based law firm represented on the list. The list appears in the June 27th issue of Modern Healthcare. Dickinson Wright’s healthcare practice group includes more than …
By Peter Domas and Jena Grady In an era of unprecedented integration and collaboration in the healthcare industry, providers, payors, contractors and patients are exchanging information at an ever expanding pace. This collaboration includes sharing best practices, data, technology, and resources, many of which may have significant value to a healthcare provider and qualify for …