This past Friday, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, in collaboration with the HHS Office for Civil Rights and HHS Office of the General Counsel, developed
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Health Care Reform
Physicians Leaving Private Practice for Hospital Employment but at What Cost?
There was an interesting article published on nytimes.com over the weekend (see “New Law’s Demands on Doctors Have Many Seeking a Network“) comparing and contrastng the practice of…
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Study of Early Medical Home Pilot Shows Disappointing Results
The drive for reduced costs and increased quality in the delivery of healthcare is an almost universally held goal among those in the industry. However, there seems to be little…
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Hospital Acquisition of Physician Practices Can Raise Antitrust Concerns
The recent federal antitrust case of Federal Trade Commission and State of Idaho, Plaintiffs, v. St. Luke’s Health System, Ltd, and Saltzer Medical Group, P.A. highlights an important legal consideration…
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Medicare Advantage Plans Terminating Physician Participation Without Explanation
In recent months I have had a number of physician clients contact me to tell me that they have unexpectedly been dropped from one or more Medicare Advantage plans with…
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Expect System Overload Under Obamacare
We all witnessed the disastrous rollout of the Healthcare.gov website which crashed almost immediately after going live. The reason according to the Department of Health and Human Services was the…
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Consider an Unwind Clause in Hospital-Physician Employment Arrangements
Hospital-physician acquisition of medical practices continues at a furious pace. Unfortunately, no one knows for certain whether physician employment by hospitals is the key to better or more cost-effective care. …
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Physician-Hospital Integration Strategies
As the implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues in fits and starts, healthcare providers are scrambling to best position themselves to accommodate anticipated and developing payment models. …
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HIPAA Changes Required by 2013 Omnibus Rule
Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published the “HIPAA Omnibus Rule,” implementing various provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH)…
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FTC Sues to Block Hospital Acquisition of Medical Practice
Adding an interesting wrinkle to an already complex environment, the Federal Trade Commission filed a suit this month to block an Idaho hospital from acquiring a physician practice. According to…
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