Wyoming physicians are sometimes confronted with the awkward and difficult choice of whether to bring a colleague’s potentially unprofessional, unethical, or harmful conduct to light by making a report to a hospital’s peer...more
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a case challenging the sufficiency of due process protections in the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) and National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), effectively...more
The Tennessee Information Protection Act (TIPA) passed unanimously through both houses of the Tennessee legislature and was signed by Governor Bill Lee on May 11, 2023. Tennessee joins seven states in enacting a comprehensive...more
The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington’s decision interpreting the Health Care Quality Improvement Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11101, et seq., (“HCQIA”), highlights specific requirements for immunity...more
Flattening the Curve: Are Vaccination Mandates a Viable Strategy for Hospitals? Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (“SARS-CoV-2”) vaccines hold promise to control the pandemic and help restore normal social and...more
In a highly unfavorable peer review decision, Leadbitter v. Keystone Anesthesia v. Petraglia, entered on February 12, 2020, a Pennsylvania state appellate court upheld an order compelling a hospital to produce the unredacted...more
The U.S. healthcare industry remains at a crossroads. The healthcare reform legislation passed under President Barack Obama in 2010, officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) but widely referred...more
Was the Louisville hospital’s restriction of Dr. Ben Reid’s surgery privileges a professional review activity or a professional review action? When Ben sued on various tort theories, the hospital claimed immunity under the...more
Since enactment of the Health Care Quality Improvement Act in 1986, physicians haven’t usually fared well when they go to court to stop or delay hospital peer review actions, provided the hospitals follow the procedural steps...more
HCQIA Preemption of State Physician Whistleblower Statutes - Medical professionals who are subject to adverse actions following peer review often seek to sue the peer review participants (including the individual...more
Securing the Safety Net for America's Vulnerable Populations - Editor's Note: America's population is aging rapidly. By 2029, 75 million baby boomers will have reached age 65 and older, and older adults will represent...more
Background - Dr. Steven Valfer is a licensed OB-GYN who was a member of the medical staff at Evanston Northwestern Hospital ("Hospital") until March 16, 2005 when the Hospital's board of directors approved the...more
Remember Jarndyce v. Jarndyce in the Charles Dickens classic Bleak House? The case drags on for so long that the only winners are the lawyers? (Not that that’s all bad.) Well, Jarndyce is playing out in a medical staff...more
Best Practices for Using Social Media in Healthcare: Maximizing Impact, Mitigating Risk - Editor's note: In a generation more likely to seek health information online than see a doctor, social media is playing an...more
In This Presentation: - What is Disruptive/Impaired Behavior? - Main Impediments to Addressing Unprofessional Behavior - Components of Successful Policies - A Legal Perspective - Joint Commission and...more
42 U.S.C. § 1981 prohibits discrimination affecting citizens rights to make contracts. In the credentialing field, § 1981 has been used to circumvent the immunities provided by the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA)...more
In Copeland v. MidMichigan Regional Medical Center, a Michigan State Appellate Court affirmed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Hospital, based upon both HCQIA immunity and a general release signed by...more
One of the fundamental issues in credentialing disputes is whether the Medical Staff Bylaws constitute contracts between the Hospital and the individual physicians. If the Medical Staff Bylaws do constitute a contract, then...more
The recent decision by the California Supreme Court in Fahlen v. Sutter Central Valley Hospitals, No. S205568 , 2014 WL 655995 (Cal. 2014) may significantly weaken the efficacy of hospital peer review proceedings in...more
Physicians always have been justifiably concerned about reports to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) regarding malpractice payments and adverse peer review actions. Two areas of frequent uncertainty have been: ...more
In Granger v. Christus Health Central Louisiana d/b/a Christus St. Francis Cabrini, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that medical staff bylaws are a contract between the hospital and a the medical staff member....more
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Act of 1986 ("HCQIA") is a federal law enacted to establish a national tracking system of healthcare practitioners with a history of medical malpractice payments or adverse actions. A...more