2016

Does your medical professional liability insurance policy provide coverage for all risks associated with your practice? The practice of psychiatry is constantly evolving, causing an increase in liability risks.  Recent state mandates for physicians to use electronic health records or electronic prescribing, and the more frequent use of telemedicine as a method of treatment, ar ...

Overcast skies and chilly temperature didn’t dampen the spirits of dedicated mental health providers who took part in a recent National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Walk in New York City and Long Island. They came together to help raise funds to support mental health and to work to stamp out the stigma people affected by mental illness face. PRMS supported teams from the B ...

Training psychiatry residents to realize the best possible outcomes with patients means giving them the expertise to be the best that they can be with training programs that put them on a learning continuum and further their professional growth. That’s one reason why PRMS matched travel awards for outstanding residents with an interest in psychiatric education to take part in t ...

May 5 marks national Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day. PRMS applauds mental health groups and communities around the country as they work to raise awareness about the mental health needs of America’s youngest citizens. In an effort to draw people together to advocate for a full array of effective services, we wanted to provide information about how you can get involved. ...

A growing cadre of senior psychiatrists with a wealth of knowledge about their profession has ambitious plans to keep on giving by sharing their decades of experience with younger colleagues and by helping other senior psychiatrists navigate unique challenges as they and their practices age. PRMS recently pledged its support for Senior Psychiatrists, Inc. headed by President Na ...

  Starting or joining a private practice is an exciting time, but it can also be risky.  An essential way to protect your professional reputation and reduce risk is to obtain comprehensive medical professional liability insurance.  In a previous blog I discussed what areas to avoid when purchasing an insurance policy.  In this post I will address some important steps you can t ...

In January, I posted about the “Top Three HIPAA Lessons Learned in 2015”, citing the need to encrypt portable devices containing PHI as the number one lesson learned.  In March, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced two new resolution agreements – both stemming from the loss of unencrypted laptops.  It appears that OCR is beginning to lose patience with covered entities wh ...

For the third time in as many weeks, today I received a phone call from a family member of one of our insureds calling to let us know that the doctor had passed away.  As always, I was saddened to learn of the passing of one of our clients but my heart really went out to the family member – in this case the doctor’s wife – who was frantically trying to provide for the doctor’s ...

As an accomplished psychiatrist and educator, Deborah J. Hales, MD has long had her finger on the pulse of issues facing psychiatrists, residents and medical students considering entering the field. In medical school, Hales wanted to become a psychiatrist but a mentor steered her towards pediatrics, so she could be “a real doctor.”  Dr. Hales eventually fought back the stigma a ...

Earlier this month I commented on a Los Angeles hospital’s computer system that was taken over by hackers, and the criminals demanded a ransom payment in bitcoin to release the electronic medical records.   The hospital ended up paying the ransom in 40 bitcoins (approximately $17,000), as demanded by the criminals. In that post I shared some technical advice from the Office of ...