You may or may not already be aware that the Idaho Legislature is currently considering House Bill 425, a proposed solution to a perceived problem with medical debt collection practices throughout the state. This bill, however well intentioned, has the potential to dramatically impact your ability to pursue legal remedies when patients refuse to pay their medical bills. In a … Read More
Historically, privileges to admit patients to Idaho hospitals and healthcare facilities were reserved only to physicians, thus creating a limitation for physician assistants and nurse practitioners who were not permitted to admit their patients when necessary for their care. This limitation has become outdated and burdensome due to the expanding roles of physician assistants and nurse practitioners in health care … Read More
On May 12, 2017, a worldwide ransomware attack assaulted businesses and government entities in 150 countries, including Britain’s national health system, FedEx, Spain’s Telefónica, and the Russian Interior Ministry. The virus dubbed “WannaCry” was designed to access servers through vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows software. Many users’ systems were infected by opening a seemingly harmless email. This virus was different from … Read More
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) seeks to provide basic protections to residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities in signing an agreement for the arbitration of disputes between residents and LTC facilities. On September 28, 2016, as part of a massive overhaul of consumer protections applicable to LTC facilities, CMS issued a rule prohibiting LTC facilities that accept Medicare … Read More
In the ever-growing world of electronic health records, cloud-based storage, and IT hacks, it is of the utmost importance to know how to handle a breach of protected health information (PHI). Individuals, organizations, and agencies that meet the definition of a covered entity under HIPAA must comply with requirements to protect the privacy and security of health information. Health plans, … Read More
