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Chair's Column
By J.A. (Tony) Patterson, Jr., Fulbright & Jaworski,
L.L.P., Dallas, TX
The Planning Committee for the Section’s 2006 Emerging Issues
Conference (February 22-24, 2006 — The Hilton El Conquistador,
Tucson, Arizona) is already on its way to putting together the
program and the meeting arrangements. While reflecting on emerging
issues in healthcare law, I have become more and more concerned
about what I will call the “peer review wars.” Across
the country, the cry has been going out for ensuring that high
quality care is provided to patients by hospitals, physicians and
other healthcare professionals.
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Enterprise Security: The Emerging Standard of Care for Healthcare Information Security
by John R. Christiansen, Esq., Christiansen IT Law, Seattle, WA
As late as the middle 1990s information security law was an irrelevant
if not meaningless concept for almost all healthcare lawyers. Outside
of narrow niche applications, particularly claims processing by
the big health insurers, computers were used by only a few pioneering
healthcare organizations, and the networking of computers into
information systems was an uncommon novelty. There were a few information
security laws dating from the 1970s, but these were principally
applicable to governmental agencies. Otherwise there were no legislation
or regulations applicable to computerized healthcare information,
nor was there any significant caselaw on point.
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Counseling Clients:
On Effective Compliance Programs In Light of the OIG's Supplemental
Compliance Program Guidance for Hospitals
by Summer H. Martin, Esq., Powell Goldstein LLP, Atlanta, GA
Healthcare organizations are under ever increasing scrutiny from
federal and state governmental agencies. With the watchful eye
of the government and the constantly changing regulatory landscape,
these organizations are facing significant challenges in monitoring
and complying with applicable legal requirements. Under this landscape,
it has become increasingly important that healthcare organizations
implement and maintain an effective compliance program. Advising
healthcare clients in this environment has proven to be both exciting
and challenging. As attorneys, we play an important role in assisting
our clients in their design, implementation and maintenance of
a successful and effective compliance program.
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| Medical Information Discovery in the Digital Age
by Kenneth N. Rashbaum, Partner, Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, LLP, New York, NY
The brass clock on the desk reads 11:30 p.m., and the beleaguered
attorney is preparing for a deposition or trial in a healthcare
case by picking his or her way through thousands of pages of
medical records, stacked up around the office like the columns
of the Parthenon. With the advent of the Electronic Medical Record
(EMR), this picture may soon be relegated to moist-eyed memory,
along with carbon paper, the Dictaphone and floppy disks. President
Bush has set a goal of national conversion to EMR within the
next ten years. Healthcare attorneys must adapt their pre-trial
discovery tools to keep up. Sooner rather than later, they will
need to know what to request and where to find it. The time-honored
Notice for Production of “All records and documents to
be relevant to the treatment of Mary Jones” may yield a
few sheets of paper at best. Similarly, an objection to discovery
stating that the request is “burdensome,” without
more, is likely to result in a nanosecond denial by a judge with
even the most rudimentary computer knowledge. Producing parties
face particularly daunting challenges: assuring that disclosure
complies with federal and state confidentiality laws; that privileged
material is not inadvertently disclosed; and that all pertinent
electronic material is appropriately preserved.
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Creating That "Five-Star" Culture
by James W. Saxton, Esq. and Maggie M. Finkelstein, Esq., Stevens & Lee, Lancaster, PA
The hospitality industry has long known of the benefits of creating
and maintaining a five-star service culture. It is only recently
that the healthcare industry has realized the importance of developing
a five-star service culture. Data substantiates that true service
excellence and effective communication can significantly reduce
liability exposure and enhance a physician's practice at the same
time. Many states are experiencing a medical malpractice crisis
and for this reason, during these litigious times, this quest for
five-star service has become even more important to the health
care industry. Multiple studies have shown that service lapses
without recovery and miscommunication drive up verdicts and settlements.
Of course, the same conduct is what drives a patient to an attorney
in the first place.
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Interest
Group Spotlight
Healthcare
Litigation & Risk Management
The Healthcare Litigation & Risk Management Interest Group examines
areas in health care related litigation and the continuum of liability control.
On the litigation side, such topics include antitrust, staff privileges
issues and peer review proceedings, credentialing and medical staff development
planning, and Bylaw interpretation. On the risk management side, such topics
include monitoring national tort reform initiatives, and focusing on specific
timely issues such as evidentiary protection of risk management documents,
alternative dispute resolution, and utilization review/denial of care. The
goal is to pursue a balanced and global approach to key issues. Thus, persons
form all areas of healthcare -- hospitals, physicians or other providers,
managed care organizations, long term care, among others -- who are involved
in or interested in litigation and/or risk management are encouraged to
participate.
The IG is led by Chair David
H. Johnson, Rodey Dickason Sloan
Akin & Robb PA, Albuquerque, NM and
Vice Chairs Susan
Chmieleski, Darwin Professional Underwriters,
Farmington, CT; Michael
E. Clark, Hamel Bowers & Clark, LLP,
Houston, TX; Lois
Snyder, Center for Ethics & Professionalism,
American College of Physicians, Philadelphia, PA; Martin
Thompson,
Manatt Phelps & Phillips, Costa Mesa, CA and Hilary
Young, Joy & Young LLP, Austin, TX
If you would like to join the Interest Group, continue by clicking
the following link: Health
Law Section IG Sign-up Form.
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Do you want to communicate your ideas to thousands
of other members through the wonders of cyberspace? To contribute
a newsletter article on a health law topic, send us your
ideas to BielawsA@staff.abanet.org
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June 2005 Volume 1 Number 10
