During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth usage has dramatically increased, as discussed in a recent Health Law Rx post. Telehealth makes it easier for individuals who cannot drive, including many minors, to seek necessary...more
COVID-19 has made healthcare organizations acutely aware of the need to fine-tune their internal safety systems. The National Steering Committee for Patient Safety (NSC), comprised of 27 organizations, has come to the rescue....more
Healthcare providers are generally required by HIPAA to provide patients or their legal representatives with the ability to inspect or obtain copies of their medical records within 30 days of a request (state specific...more
Healthcare practitioners, including medical students, are now prohibited from performing pelvic examinations on female patients without first obtaining written consent, but many specific, logistical questions were left...more
Physician offices have seen a dramatic increase in telehealth visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. This development has raised questions regarding the appropriate standard of care when performing a telehealth examination, in...more
The COVID 19 epidemic is bound to overwhelm available medical resources in the United States. Healthcare institutions and practitioners will be forced to make impossible life-or-death decisions regarding the allocation of...more
The Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal harmonized the interpretation of state statutory and constitutional language in the first post Amendment 7 case dealing with access to adverse medical incident reports and their use...more
11/19/2019
/ Admissible Evidence ,
Discovery ,
Evidence ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Medical Reports ,
Right of Access ,
State and Local Government ,
State Constitutions ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Testimony ,
Trials
We are all too aware of the horrors of the Parkland shooting. In response to that awful day, the Florida Legislature enacted Florida Statute Section 790.401 in 2018, “the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Safety Act.”...more
Last Thursday, September 5, 2019, Judge James Moody, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a positive ruling for hospitals dealing with patient safety organization (PSO) data....more
When is a treating physician considered an expert witness and therefore entitled to expert witness fees when he testifies at trial? Apparently, the Florida District Courts of Appeal have formulated the typical lawyer response...more
Two recent studies of medical malpractice claims highlight how patient complaints may identify those surgeons at greater risk for complications, a significant decrease in paid medical malpractice claims since 1992, and the...more
As the threat of cyberattacks continues to pose daily threats to businesses large and small, more companies have turned to cyber insurance products to shore up protection against these disruptive threats. A spate of recent...more
10/28/2016
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Insurance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Hackers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HIPAA Breach ,
Insurance Industry ,
Malware ,
PHI ,
Popular ,
Ransomware
Humana Medical Plan, Inc. v. Western Heritage Insurance Co., case number 15-11436.
Liability insurers beware, as the 11th Circuit held that Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAO) are entitled to the same rights...more
8/26/2016
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Damages ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Humana ,
Insurance Industry ,
Liability Insurance ,
Medical Liens ,
Medical Reimbursement ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) ,
Medicare Secondary Payer Act ,
Popular ,
Slip and Fall
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for guidance on medical devices, has acknowledged that certain devices are susceptible to breaches. The FDA has identified cybersecurity vulnerabilities in...more
Florida’s First District Court of Appeal issued its opinion in the highly watched case of Southern Baptist Hospital of Florida, Inc. v. Charles et al. The First District Court ruled that the federal Patient Safety and Quality...more
Biometric data – obviously not in just the movies anymore. It is alive, well, and increasingly being used in our everyday society. But, on September 23, 2015, when the Office of Personnel Management revealed that fingerprint...more
10/13/2015
/ Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Biometric Information ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
DEA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fingerprints ,
Hackers ,
Healthcare ,
OPM ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Privacy Concerns
In the world of healthcare, the story that grabbed our headlines and attention the most this past year was, of course, the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As we move into 2014, we take a moment to look back at some...more
The increased use of electronic medical records ("EMR") is changing not only the way physicians practice medicine but also the way discovery is conducted in medical malpractice lawsuits. Plaintiffs' attorneys seek to...more