The healthcare industry is highly regulated, with many rules and guidelines. Medical practices must be able to adhere to all of these regulations, including privacy with HIPAA and billing requirements.
A knowledgeable healthcare attorney can help ensure your practice follows all of the necessary guidelines and stays up-to-date on any changes in the industry.
Patient Safety
A patient’s healthcare experience is a delicate balance of empathy, respect, and clinical professionalism. But even when healthcare professionals are putting their best foot forward, medical mistakes can occur. While some risks are inherent to specific treatments (such as anesthesia and certain medications), many other potential causes of harm can be avoided with proper patient safety protocols.
Safer patient care practices help to minimize lapses in quality and protect medical organizations from expensive malpractice suits. In addition, a strong emphasis on patient safety improves patients’ overall health outcomes.
Patient safety errors may include a missed, wrong, or delayed diagnosis, improper treatment, medication errors, or healthcare-acquired infections (such as catheter-related bloodstream infections and hospital-acquired pneumonia). These issues can all be prevented with the implementation of patient safety protocols.
This includes having clear communication between nurses during shift changes, a culture of collaboration, and a transparent system for reporting errors that can be easily remedied. Luce Law’s team of healthcare attorneys is ready to provide the guidance and protection your medical practice or agency needs. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.
Risk Management
For many healthcare professionals, including those pursuing online bachelor’s and master’s in health administration programs from Maryville University, risk management is an essential part of their career. Healthcare practices are incredibly regulated and scrutinized on municipal, state, and federal levels, and compliance standards are constantly changing.
The most common risks are predictable and can be treated with standard procedures, reviewed, and adapted as needed. These risks are often modeled using statistical models and typically involve no specific human counterparty. Examples of these include workplace safety, insurance and actuarial analysis, engineering, and the operation of vehicles and aircraft.
For example, a clinic may experience an unexpected patient surge due to a flu outbreak. It must analyze this risk to determine its level of probability, the underlying causes, and current measures to address it. A healthcare attorney can help develop these protocols to ensure a medical practice protects itself from harm to its clients and their reputation. They can also assist in vetting medical practices’ finances and billing codes to ensure they’re not overbilling private insurance companies or governmental programs like Medicare.
Compliance
Licensed healthcare professionals must comply with Federal and state laws, regulations, and guidelines. These include medical malpractice and tort laws, corporate practice of medicine, licensing rules for doctors and chiropractors, insurance policies and contracts, and the federal anti-kickback and Stark anti-referral laws.
Healthcare attorneys are well-versed in these laws and regulatory issues. They stay current on changes and can advise clients about avoiding and responding to legal issues in this rapidly changing field.
A knowledgeable attorney also helps healthcare practices maintain compliance with laws, regulations, and agreements. For example, attorneys can help with HIPAA compliance and draft contracts that cover liability, regulatory, and reputational risks.
Financial Planning
A financial plan is a detailed evaluation of a client’s financial situation and goals. It can be created either independently or with the help of a professional. It includes calculating net worth, cash flow, financial objectives, establishing budgets, and setting up savings. It also requires access to historical and real-time data to model projections.
A healthcare lawyer specializing in financial planning can help a healthcare practice establish an adequate budget and manage expenses. This allows the course to avoid making financial decisions that aren’t financially viable. It also enables them to make sound investment decisions that will benefit their clients in the long run.
Medical practices often have complex legal requirements and regulations that require assistance from a knowledgeable attorney. Vorys’ attorneys can assist with all aspects of a healthcare practice, including regulatory compliance, healthcare laws, insurance policies, and contract negotiations. This helps the method operate smoothly and efficiently. They can also handle complex litigation and dispute resolution. This provides peace of mind to the practice owner.
Litigation
The litigation process is a series of mechanisms that resolve disputes. They typically envision a court trial before a judge and jury when considering litigation. However, mediation, settlement, and other means resolve most lawsuits outside the courtroom. The person who files a lawsuit is called a plaintiff, and the person or entity accused of violating their rights is known as a defendant.
Litigation can involve many aspects of a healthcare practice, including defending medical malpractice claims. A knowledgeable attorney can help protect your practice against a lawsuit’s high costs and risks.
The risk of litigation also impacts the cost and quality of health care for patients. The system must be reformed to protect Americans’ access to high-quality care—the litigation crisis results in higher insurance premiums, a shortage of doctors, and reduced patient choice.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a knowledgeable healthcare attorney can assist in navigating government agency investigations. Whether the research is justified or not, it can devastate a medical practice’s reputation and financial livelihood. An experienced healthcare lawyer can defend a physician against false or unfounded allegations of abuse or fraud, and they can negotiate with government agencies to reduce fines or penalties.
