Health Law

Red Flags Update: The FTC has again

Posted on July 29, 2009
Red Flags Update: The FTC has again delayed enforcement of the Red Flags Rule, which requires financial institutions and other "creditors" to establish identity theft protection programs to (i) identify "red flags" that would indicate that a customer or client might be the victim of identity theft (ii) detect when a "red flag" has been raised, and (iii) take steps to address any identity theft

HIPAA confusion: Doctors' offices

Posted on July 27, 2009
HIPAA confusion: Doctors' offices sometimes get confused. One of the basic patient rights enumerated in HIPAA is the right of the patient to have access to his/her medical records.

Preemption: In Minnesota, HIPAA

Posted on July 24, 2009
Preemption: In Minnesota, HIPAA doesn't preempt state law that allows an individual to pursue a state-law cause of action against a provider for improperly disclosing medical information. Well, of course not: HIPAA's preemption is only of weaker state laws...

OT: Red Flags: I've mentioned in

Posted on July 24, 2009
OT: Red Flags: I've mentioned in the past the AMA complaints about the inclusion of physicians in the "Red Flags" Rule. Well, the ABA is going to sue unless they cut lawyers out of the deal.Hat tip: Mary Emma Karam.

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Arkansas Snoopin': This is the

Posted on July 23, 2009
Arkansas Snoopin': This is the follow-up to the Little Rock news reporter case. Three hospital people have pleaded guilty to HIPAA violations for snooping in medical records. The doctor involved got 2 weeks probation, the two non-doctors got fired. This is at least the second HIPAA case for Jane Duke, the Arkansas prosecutor.

OCR is Hiring: does that mean more

Posted on July 20, 2009
OCR is Hiring: does that mean more enforcement, or more policy-making?

Ohio: More on the Ohio Supreme

Posted on July 20, 2009
Ohio: More on the Ohio Supreme Court's extension of strong protection to the medical records of non-parties that are subpoenaed in connection with litigation. I reported on it here.

Healthcare reform: A nice synopsis

Posted on July 17, 2009
Healthcare reform: A nice synopsis of the house bill.

Healthcare Reform: Only an idiot

Posted on July 17, 2009
Healthcare Reform: Only an idiot would think you can cut healthcare spending by spending more on healthcare.

Healthcare Reform: If you want

Posted on July 17, 2009
Healthcare Reform: If you want competition, get the government out of healthcare, not further into it.

Business Associates: Dom Nicastro

Posted on July 17, 2009
Business Associates: Dom Nicastro has some good tips for getting your business associates to focus on complying with HIPAA, now that HITECH has made them directly responsible for it.

Health Reform = Health Rationing:

Posted on July 16, 2009
Health Reform = Health Rationing: Peter Singer has finally said it. I'm glad someone has, because this part of the conversation must be had. So far, it's all Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny: people ought to have healthcare for free (hey, apparently it's a "right"!), but instead of talking about how we're going to pay for it, let's talk about how we're paying too much right now! Singer's

Social Media and Healthcare Marketing:

Posted on July 16, 2009
Social Media and Healthcare Marketing: Gienna Shaw talks about getting management buy-in.

Qui bono? Interesting blog post

Posted on July 16, 2009
Qui bono? Interesting blog post over on InformationWeek about the tension between IT providers and patients over the push toward electronic billing records. I note it because the blogger notes, damningly, the question, "who will profit from digital medical records?" I know there are plenty of people occupying the corriders of power who want us to be in some sort of neo-Marxist paradise, but

California Snoopin' results in

Posted on July 16, 2009
California Snoopin' results in $187,500 fine. I think this is the Octomom case. Hat tip: Clark Stanton

Do state privacy laws deter EMR

Posted on July 15, 2009
Do state privacy laws deter EMR adoption? Are physicians and hospitals less likely to adopt electronic medical record technology due to the existence in their state of stricter privacy laws? Apparently, says this study.

OT: More Healthcare Reform news.

Posted on July 14, 2009
OT: More Healthcare Reform news. If the problem is that we pay too much for healthcare, why do all the proposed health reform bills cost money, rather than save money? This is why there will be no health reform this year.See this, too. Especially see the last page: primary care physicians can't afford to live in NYC...

Dr. Dappen Leaves Medicare: The

Posted on July 13, 2009
Dr. Dappen Leaves Medicare: The story of one doctor's decision to leave Medicare. I'm sure Steve Pearlstein thinks he's a greedy bastard. This happens when the hassles of the system aren't worth the cost. If the doctor is good enough, he doesn't need Medicare, so he'll abandon it...

OT: Social Media Marketing. I

Posted on July 10, 2009
OT: Social Media Marketing. I have been and will be speaking on this (sign up and listen, it's free!), but there is a huge push to market using Twitter and other social media marketing milieu. One thing to be aware of: even if you stay away from these marketing tools out of fear or extreme caution, you need to be following what OTHERS are saying about you in these media...

OT: Setting the table for my healthcare

Posted on July 10, 2009
OT: Setting the table for my healthcare reform post. Oh, the number of people who ask me what I think about healthcare reform. What will happen? What should happen? Will this or that work? I don't know what will or won't work, but I have a pretty good idea of why things won't work, or won't work the way people think they will...

OT: what I did on the 4th of July.

Posted on July 09, 2009
OT: what I did on the 4th of July. Quite a performance. You've got to look a long way down to find my name, but it's the first time I've run competitively since high school (which was the last time I was a runner at all).

New Media in Healthcare Marketing:

Posted on July 09, 2009
New Media in Healthcare Marketing: Apparently, it's becoming much more popular, and more used, by healthcare marketers. As you may know, I spoke on the issue last month. If you're interested in (i) FDA regulation of drug marketing and (ii) new media, you might be interested in this free presentation I'll be giving with Peter Pitts and David Maizenberg in two weeks...

Canadian HIPAA: Was it Larry Ellison

Posted on July 09, 2009
Canadian HIPAA: Was it Larry Ellison who said "you have no privacy, get over it"? Whoever it was, they're apparently getting the message in Canada.Of course, not that many people get healthcare in Canada anyway.

Also from AHIMA: Apparently, the

Posted on July 09, 2009
Also from AHIMA: Apparently, the California statute requiring all healthcare providers to report any known unauthorized access has been, er, successful. LOTS of unauthorized access is happening, apparently. I suspect most healthcare providers are pretty meticulous about reporting stuff that's even just in the grey area, but still, I think there are a lot more incidents than most of us would've

AHIMA's Red Flags Materials: The

Posted on July 09, 2009
AHIMA's Red Flags Materials: The American Health Information Management Association has published its white paper on complying with the Red Flags rule, if you're interested.

Fighting ARRA's National Health

Posted on July 08, 2009
Fighting ARRA's National Health Information System: Also from BNA: "Provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that call for a national health information system for managing patient health records violate privacy and due process rights of those patients under the U...

Ohio Suit: Non-Party Records Protected:

Posted on July 08, 2009
Ohio Suit: Non-Party Records Protected: Via BNA (subscription required): "Discovery of the confidential medical records of nonparties in private litigation is not permitted by Ohio law, the state supreme court declared July 1 (Roe v. Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, Ohio, No...

6 Rules: From Dom Nicastro (and

Posted on July 07, 2009
6 Rules: From Dom Nicastro (and for Paul Moore), some sage advice on the right way to approach HIPAA.

Tweets on a Plane: I'm currently

Posted on July 01, 2009
Tweets on a Plane: I'm currently on American Airlines flight 446, DFW-PHL, somewhere over the Appalacian Mountains, and blogging. On-board wi-fi. Don't know if its a blessing or a curse. It's like I haven't left my office, except I can't take phone calls.

Twitter as an Epidemiologists Tool?

Posted on July 01, 2009
Twitter as an Epidemiologists Tool? Chris Thorman, who normally blogs about EMR software, has an interesting piece noting how well Twitter has worked in following the Iranian unrest, and contemplating a use for Twitter in tracking epidemics. A Google-Twitter mashup was useful in tracking the original outbreak of the swine flu (or H1N1 for the politically correct)...

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