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Health Law

Health Care Law Blog

Comments and Thoughts on Health Care Legal Issues, HIPAA Privacy & Security, Technology and Other Legal Odds and Ends that Impact West Virginia.
By Bob Coffield

Post Frequency: 2.6/day

Last Entry: April 29, 2012 at 12:24:32

WVHCA Issues Policy Statement for Public Witnesses

Posted on April 29, 2012
On April 11, 2012, the West Virginia Health Care Authority announced a new policy regarding the testimony for witnesses from the public before the Authority at certificate of need and rate hearings. The policy statement issued by James L. Pitrolo, Jr...

MSBCBS of TN Settles HIPAA/HITECH Violation for $1.5M

Posted on March 14, 2012
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement of $1.5M with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (BCBST) relating to potential violations under the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. According to the OCR press release, the enforcement action by OCR is the first reported as resulting from a breach report required under the new Breach Notification Rule implemented as a result of the HITECH provisions of HIPAA...

OHFLAC Announces New Independent Informal Dispute Resolution Procedure for West Virginia Nursing Homes

Posted on March 10, 2012
The latest West Virginia Health Care Association e-News Update announced that the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC) has put into place a new Independent Informal Dispute Resolution (IIDR) review of disputed deficiencies for all nursing homes in West Virginia...

West Virginia Health Care Association Launches WV Senior Care Website

Posted on February 26, 2012
This past week health care colleague and CEO of the West Virginia Health Care Association, Patrick D. Kelly, advised me that the association has launched a new website to provide a resource for families and seniors who are researching residential and health care options in West Virginia...

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CMS Issues proposed rule for Stage 2 Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Programs under HITECH

Posted on February 24, 2012
Yesterday the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the proposed rule for Stage 2 Meaningful Use under the the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs which is a part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH)...

SCOTUS Overturns Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Decision on Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements

Posted on February 24, 2012
On February 21, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in the matter of Marmet Health Care Center, Inc. v. Brown et al., 565 U.S.(2012). The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia previously held that all pre-dispute arbitration agreements that applied to personal injury and wrongful death claims against nursing homes were unenforceable...

HIPAA Privacy Action Filed Against University Health Associates

Posted on January 20, 2012
The West Virginia Record reports the filing of a medical record breach action against West Virginia University Medical Corporation dba University Health Associates (UHA) under the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)...

WVHCA: 2012 CON Capital Expenditure Minimum

Posted on January 03, 2012
The West Virginia Health Care Authority has announced the 2012 certificate of need capital expenditure minimum threshold of $2,916,104. The new threshold is effective beginning January 1, 2012. The threshold is used as a part of the analysis by health care providers who must determine whether or not a certificate of need is required for a proposed project or health care acquisition...

Health Care Law Blog: Have a Wonderful Holiday Season!

Posted on December 23, 2011
Happy Holidays to my clients, health care and lawyer colleagues, and other readers of the Health Care Law Blog I appreciate your continued support and hope that 2012 will be as exciting and wonderful as this past year. See you in 2012! In years past I have sent out our standard Flaherty Sensabaugh Bonasso PLLC holiday card to thank my clients for trusting our firm with their business and my colleagues for all they do for me throughout the year...

Thanksgiving 2011: Occupy The Dinner Table and Engage With Grace

Posted on November 24, 2011
The Engage with Grace Project is an effort to raise awareness of the importance of end of life care planning and discussing your wishes with your family and friends. Dr. Bryan Vartabedian captures the simplicity of the project in his post, "It began with a simple idea: Create a tool to get people talking...

HIPAA/HITECH Audits: OCR Program to Audit 150 Covered Entities

Posted on November 08, 2011
Today the Office for Civil Right (OCR) announced details of a pilot program to perform up to 150 audits of covered entities to assess privacy and security compliance under HIPAA. OCR will be conducting the audits between November 2011 and December 2012...

University of California Settles Potential HIPAA Privacy and Security Violations with OCR for $865,500

Posted on July 08, 2011
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that the University of California at Los Angeles Health System which includes UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, and Orthopedic Hospital, Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, and the Faculty Practice Group of UCLA (UCLAHS) has agreed to settle potential violations under the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules for $865,500...

4th Circuit Affirms Withholding of WV Medicaid Funds

Posted on July 06, 2011
Today the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit affirmed a ruling by the district court in West Virginia which sustained a disallowance of federal funding by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) against the West Virginia Medicaid Program...

2011 AHLA Annual Meeting: How to Use Social Media with @BobCoffield

Posted on June 28, 2011
Welcome How to Use Social Media session students and others. I hope you enjoyed my presentation during the afternoon health care social media sessions at the 2011 American Health Lawyers Association Annual Meeting in Boston. The health care social media sessions this afternoon were a great introduction to a variety of practical and legal issues surrounding the world of social media and its impact on the health care industry...

AHLA Social Media Class

Posted on June 28, 2011
Here is my social media class at the AHLA Annual Meeting.

AHLA Boston "TWEETup"

Posted on June 21, 2011
Plans are set for a "TWEETup" during the American Health Lawyers Association 2011 Annual Meeting next week in Boston. All registered health lawyers are welcome along with other Boston area Twitter friends, Boston's Health 2.0 community, health care social media aficionados, and anyone else interested in the intersection of social media and the law...

WVHCA: Notice of Public Comment Period on Proposed Amendments to CON Standards for Megavoltage Radiation Therapy Services/Units

Posted on June 20, 2011
The West Virginia Health Care Authority has issued a Notice of Public Comment Period to obtain comments on proposed amendments to Certificate of Need Standards for Megavoltage Radiation Therapy Services/Units. Here are the "proposed amendments" to the Megavoltage Radiation Therapy Services/Units...

The Twitter Trap: Are we outsourcing our brains to the cloud?

Posted on June 17, 2011
The Twitter Trap by Bill Keller (@NYTKeller), Executive Editor of The New York Times captures many of the thoughts I have been having lately about the impact social media and technology is having on our society. Where does it end? What will be the future? How will it change us as humans? As a society? Like Mr...

JP Morgan Healthcare Conference HIT Panel Discussion with Schmidt, Chopra, and Park

Posted on June 12, 2011
If you follow health information technology and are interested in the future of health care take time and listen to this panel discussion on Innovation Opportunities for the Health Information Technology Market with Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google, Aneesh Chopra, Federal CTO for the United States, Todd Park, CTO of HHS, and moderated by John Doerr, venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins...

OIG HEAT Provider Compliance Training Webcast

Posted on June 08, 2011
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has made available the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Team (HEAT) Provider Compliance Training webcast. OIG is making the training information available to help highlight and educate providers on the the federal government's effort to fight health care fraud and abuse...

HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures under HITECH

Posted on May 31, 2011
Today's Federal Register includes the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) modifying the HIPAA Privacy Rule's Accounting of Disclosure requirements for protected health information. OCR was required to make these modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to implement the requirements under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) section of the ARRA...

Practical Guidance on Medicare Physician Signature Requirements

Posted on May 24, 2011
I was recently researching the physician signature requirements under the Medicare program and found this resource outlining some of key questions and answers around the requirements.The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Medicare Learning Network has issued a fact sheet on Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) Signature Requirements with the Q and A...

FSB Welcomes Tom Clark

Posted on May 22, 2011
A warm welcome to J. Thomas "Tom" Clark who recently joined Flaherty Sensabaugh Bonasso PLLC as Senior Counsel. Tom is a welcomed addition to our corporate practice group and will help to expand the level of representation that we provide our health care, oil and gas, coal and banking industry clients...

HITECH Final Regulations Update: Coming Soon!

Posted on May 13, 2011
Susan McAndrew, deputy director for health information privacy at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) indicated this week that various final regulations modifying the HIPAA privacy and security rules required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) will be issued soon...

HITECH Final Regulations Update: Coming Soon!

Posted on May 12, 2011
Susan McAndrew, deputy director for health information privacy at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) indicated this week that various final regulations modifying the HIPAA privacy and security rules required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) will be issued soon...

WVCLE: Health Care Law 2011 Seminar

Posted on May 10, 2011
The West Virginia Continuing Legal Education Section of WVU College of Law will be sponsoring Health Care Law 2011 Seminar on May 20, 2011, in Charleston, West Virginia at WVU Medical Center - CAMC.The Health Care Law 2011 Seminar will cover a variety of topics of interest to West Virginia health care attorneys...

Leaves of 3 Let Them Be: Poison Ivy Advice from Dr. Coffield

Posted on April 10, 2011
Last week I was looking through some old printed emails and I ran across advice about poison ivy from my dad, LeMoyne Coffield. Since Spring is on the way and the poison ivy is starting to grow I thought I would share this with everyone (including some good advice for the golfers)...

OCR Seeks FY2012 Budget Increase of $5.6M for HIPAA Compliance and Enforcement

Posted on March 17, 2011
HealthLeaders reports that the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is seeking an additional $5.6 million in its Fiscal Year 2012 budget proposal to fund its HIPAA compliance and enforcement activities.The article also details the most current reported numbers on breaches reported to OCR...

OCR Seeks FY2012 Budget Increase of $5.6M for HIPAA Compliance and Enforcement

OCR Imposes $4.3M Penalty for Violation of HIPAA/HITECH Privacy Rule

Posted on February 23, 2011
UNTIL TODAY, many health care providers questioned whether HHS and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) would ever issue any significant penalties for violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. However, will OCR ever be able to collect the penalties.Today, HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced a civil money penalty (CMP) of $4...

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