Two recent decisions of the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) illustrate that age and disability status cannot be used as blanket criteria for denying access to health care services, even during a pandemic. This should serve as a warning to healthcare providers about the risks in making triage decisions

On April 16, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California charged Dr. Jennings Ryan Staley, a licensed physician and the operator of Skinny Beach Med Spa in San Diego, with mail fraud in connection with his offer to sell “COVID-19 treatment packs” to patients and the general public. Emails sent by Dr. Staley

An article in the April issue of Healthcare Risk Management, “Surgeon Sues Health System for ‘Forced Referrals’,” discussed a whistleblower lawsuit filed against a Florida health system. Rivkin Radler’s Geoffrey Kaiser was quoted in the article.

Jeff pointed out that if a surgeon is an employee of a health system, requiring him to refer his

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order on March 23 expanding resources to healthcare workers. The goal is to meet the treatment demands of coronavirus patients and, most significantly, provide healthcare providers with protection against lawsuits for medical malpractice and other potential liability. Executive Order 202.10 grants immunity to all physicians, physician assistants,

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), signed into law on March 27, made some substantial changes to the confidentiality rules for substance abuse and mental health records to bring them in line with HIPAA confidentiality rules. Among the changes, a covered entity or business associate may now use or disclose substance

On March 22, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its first action against COVID-19 fraudsters: a civil complaint seeking an injunction ordering the website coronavirusmedicalkit.com to shut down while an investigation into the site’s operators continues. A more detailed discussion of the DOJ’s action may be found here.

On March 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued joint Warning Letters to seven companies calling for them to cease marketing products appearing to violate federal law by making deceptive or scientifically unsupported claims about their ability to treat Coronavirus (COVID-19). The companies targeted, (1) Vital Silver, (2) Quinessence

Rivkin Radler’s Evan Krinick authored a March 6 article in the New York Law Journal, “Second Circuit Cases May Affect Insurers’ Ability To Fight No-Fault Fraud,” that discussed two pending cases relating to New York no-fault insurance carriers. Both cases involve a healthcare provider that filed hundreds of new arbitration proceedings or collection lawsuits against

A recent article in Part B News, “Court throws out fee policies for medical record sharing; watch for new rules,” discussed the recent court decision in Ciox Health, LLC v. Alez Azar, et al., which led to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services modifying its guidance regarding charging fees for access to patient

In response to a recent federal court decision, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has modified its guidance regarding certain obligations imposed on covered entities when responding to individuals’ requests to send their protected health information (PHI) to third parties. In short, covered entities are no longer required