Big Win for Arkansas Hospitals: Protecting the Quality Assurance Process
The Arkansas Court of Appeals recently affirmed the critically important quality-assurance privilege in Arkansas, codified at Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-46-105. At issue was whether a hospital must convene a formal committee in order to trigger the protections of the privilege, or whether…
Latest Challenge to Affordable Care Act Arises in Idaho
The decision of Blue Cross of Idaho to offer health insurance plans that appear to violate federal law begins the latest chapter in the continuing saga of the Affordable Care Act’s increasingly tenuous existence. Blue Cross filed five individual “state based plans” on Tuesday with the Idaho…
Hospital Answer Stricken for Destroying Paper Medical Record after Scanning into the EMR
On Wednesday, October 25, 2017, the Arkansas Court of Appeals handed down an opinion affirming a severe sanction against a hospital in a medical malpractice case. The trial court had stricken the hospital’s answer, where hospital personnel destroyed the patient’s paper medical chart, after scanning…
"Insider" Edition—Required Referrals and the Stark Law (Part Two of Two)
Hospitals and physicians must consider many items when a hospital is putting together an employment contract with a physician. One question we have seen more and more hospitals ask is whether a hospital may insert a provision into its physician employment contracts requiring hospital-employed…
"Insider" Edition—Required Referrals and the Stark Law (Part One of Two)
When a hospital is putting together an employment contract with a physician, there are many items for both the hospital and the physician to consider. One question we have seen more and more hospitals ask is whether a hospital may insert a provision into its physician employment contracts requiring…