Health Law

Health Care Social Media Workshop on the Web: Four-Part Webinar Starts January 26

Posted on January 10, 2011
You?re invited to join Jamie Verkamp, of the health care marketing consultancy (e)Merge, and me, for a 4 part webinar series specifically tailored to healthcare organization leaders. These workshops begin Wednesday, January 26, and will meet weekly for four weeks...

Patient Engagement and Public Dialogue: The Society for Participatory Medicine

Posted on January 10, 2011
I am cross-posting my inaugural post as Public Policy Committee Chair for the Society of Participatory Medicine, which went up last week on the Society's blog -- which I commend to all of you -- e-patients.net. I am delighted to...

David Harlow quoted in telemedicine article in MA Medical Law Report

Posted on January 07, 2011
Telemedicine is one of the mechanisms currently being explored as a means of spreading around our unevenly distributed supply of clinicians, and to increase patient convenience. Adoption of the technology is in its early stages, largely due to failure of...

Accountable Care Organizations: The Emperor Has No Clothes, Or, Jeff Goldsmith's Plan B

Posted on January 06, 2011
The current all-ACO issue of Health Affairs includes a piece by Jeff Goldsmith entitled: Accountable Care Organizations: The Case For Flexible Partnerships Between Health Plans And Providers. It is a proposal for how private sector health plans ought to pay...

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David Harlow quoted in AMA American Medical News story on geolocation services

Posted on December 21, 2010
As health care providers continue to wonder whether and how they should add social media to their mix of communications tactics, new tools -- and new uses for those tools -- continue to sprout up. I'm quoted in the current...

Facebook Saves Woman's Life: Newt Gingrich and Reality-Based Healthcare Systems Planning

Posted on December 10, 2010
I've seen at least half a dozen links to the op-ed coauthored by Newt Gingrich and neurosurgeon Kamal Thapar about how the doctor used information on Facebook to save a woman's life. (It was published by AOL News. Really.) In...

The Benefits Package: A new employee benefits blog carnival

Posted on December 06, 2010
The inaugural edition of The Benefits Package is up at Evan Falchuk's See First. It's a new employee health benefits blog carnival that merits your attention, as employers and other purchasers of health care services work to contain costs in...

Engage With Grace

Posted on November 24, 2010
As patients, as family members, as friends, as health care providers, we have all faced end-of-life issues at one time or another, and we will face them again. And again. This weekend, the "Engage With Grace" message is being broadcast...

Health Care Reform: What Price Progress?

Posted on November 22, 2010
There's a lot of breast-beating going on out there regarding recent "shocking" behavior by many health care provider organizations. Believe it or not, all across the nation, health care providers are seeking to affiliate/acquire/be acquired in the hopes of creating...

David Harlow Keynotes on Health Care Social Media and the Law at Annual Healthcare and the Internet Conference

Posted on November 19, 2010
I attended the 14th Annual Healthcare and the Internet Conference in Las Vegas this week, and gave a keynote presentation entitled: "Health Care Social Media - The Lawyers Don't Always Say No" in which I discussed the reasons for health...

2011 MPFS and 2011 HOPPS & ASC fee schedules finalized by CMS

Posted on November 11, 2010
The final Medicare physician fee schedule, Hospital Outpatient PPS and Ambulatory Surgery Center fee schedules for 2011 were released by CMS last week. They will be formally published in the Federal Register later this month. As usual, the fee schedules...

Social Media Policy Adopted by the American Medical Association

Posted on November 10, 2010
Earlier this month, the AMA announced that it has adopted a social media policy at its mid-year meeting. It will soon be posted on the AMA website; the full text, provided to HealthBlawg by AMA staff, is set forth at...

OIG Issues "Roadmap for New Physicians" - A Guide to Avoiding Fraud and Abuse - and Some Thoughts on its Context

Posted on November 08, 2010
In October, the Office of Inspector General issued a report on Fraud and Abuse Training in Medical Education, finding that 44% of medical schools reported giving some instruction in the anti-kickback statute and related laws, even though they weren't legally...

Swing to the right: The election and its effects on health reform

Posted on November 03, 2010
Like Tom Friedman, who lampooned some of this year's unreasonable campaign rhetoric in a recent column, I too would be in favor of reality-based political campaigns ... but that seemed to be too much to ask for this year. Instead...

David Harlow will be a keynote speaker at the 14th Annual Healthcare Internet Conference, November 15-17, in Las Vegas

Posted on October 29, 2010
I will be speaking on the legal issues surrounding health care social media at the upcoming 14th Annual Healthcare Internet Conference. Some health care executives are concerned that involvement with social media on behalf of their organizations can lead only...

Health and Hospital Law: MCLE Basics Plus on November 9 and 10

Posted on October 27, 2010
On November 9 and 10, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education presents its annual two-day health and hospital law extravaganza, featuring an all-star faculty. I am honored to be part of this august group once again. If you are in the Boston...

Connected Health Symposium 2010

Posted on October 25, 2010
I attended the Connected Health Symposium last week in Boston. I enjoyed many of the sessions (sometimes wished I could have attended two simultaneously, though the livetweeting helped on that front), and as usual enjoyed the hallway and exhibit floor...

Massachusetts State Rep. Ruth Balser speaks with David Harlow about health reform, the Massachusetts experience, and potential implications for the federal effort

Posted on October 13, 2010
The Massachusetts health reform experience is often cited as a model for key aspects of the federal health reform law - the Affordable Care Act. To gain some insight into the origins of the Massachusetts health reform law, and to...

ACO Workshop: The Feds commit to making Accountable Care Organizations work with safe harbors, waivers

Posted on October 06, 2010
Don Berwick kicked off the day-long Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Workshop and Listening Session, co-hosted by the FTC, CMS and the OIG, with a short, stirring speech that touched on his Triple Aim for health care: better care for individuals,....

mHealth, markets and cold, hard cash

Posted on October 03, 2010
Last month, PricewaterhouseCoopers issued a report, Healthcare Unwired, examining the market for mobile health monitoring devices, reminder services, etc. among both health care providers and the general public. One of the big take-away points seems to be that 40% of...

Self Referral Disclosure Protocol Redux: If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Posted on September 28, 2010
The OIG scrapped its old self-referral voluntary disclosure program in 2009 (it dated back to 1998, and was revisited in 2008), and the PPACA mandated that it be replaced. Just like clockwork, on the deadline for its promulgation, the OIG...

Massachusetts health care payment plan gets renewed attention: Global payments to replace fee for service?

Posted on September 27, 2010
Federal health reform and Massachusetts health reform may find a point of convergence in the development of ACOs (accountable care organizations) and the payment mechanisms that will make them tick (or hum, or do whatever it is that we want...

David Harlow honored with Rx for Excellence award from Massachusetts Medical Law Report

Posted on September 22, 2010
Massachusetts Medical Law Report is honoring me this week with an Rx for Excellence award, as one of its "Heroes From the Field." I am, indeed, honored by the recognition, and honored to be in the company of my fellow...

David Harlow named to Advisory Board for the Mayo Clinic Center for Health Care Social Media; Crowdsourcing Nominees for Open Seats

Posted on September 17, 2010
At the invitation of Lee Aase, I have joined the advisory board for his new initiative, the Mayo Clinic Center for Health Care Social Media. I am honored -- and delighted -- to be part of the dynamic group of...

OIG: Imaging pre-authorization may be handled by hospital for referring docs and patients

Posted on September 07, 2010
The OIG released an advisory opinion at the end of last month OK'ing a hospital's proposal to provide insurance pre-authorization srevices free of charge to patients and physicians. This is an issue that has long vexed folks in the imaging...

Privacy and security of patient records: The lesson of the weakest link

Posted on August 13, 2010
The Queen of Soul famously wailed about being a link in a chain of fools. Today's lead story in the Boston Globe tells us about another sort of link in the chain -- the weakest link in the chain of...

Pan Mass Challenge 2010 - photos and tweets from the road

Posted on August 09, 2010
This past weekend, I biked 200 miles in the granddaddy of all athletic fundraisers, the Pan-Mass Challenge, or PMC, which benefits the Dana Farber Cancer Center's Jimmy Fund. If you didn't follow my tweets from the road, you can read...

Pan Mass Challenge 2010 - Follow along on HealthBlawg

Posted on August 04, 2010
This weekend, I will be part of a village on wheels: one of 5200 cyclists riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge. This will be my seventh year riding in the two-day 200-mile bicycle fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund at the Dana...

Pan Mass Challenge - Less Than Three Weeks Away

Posted on July 20, 2010
I always feel most fit and healthy this time of year. Why? Because I've been training for the Pan-Mass Challenge, the annual two-day, 200-mile, bicycle fundraiser for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute that takes place the first weekend in August...

Meaningful Use: The Final Rule

Posted on July 14, 2010
Meaningful use was given its final definition yesterday, in the meaningful use final rule released by HHS. Secretary Sebelius, CMS Adminsitrator Berwick, ONC chief Blumenthal and the two Reginas spoke -- U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, and Regina Holliday, whose...

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