February 2016

One of the major issues with telemedicine is that, for the most part, the rules are not clear. The regulators have been slow to share their exact expectations and how those expectations can be met by licensees.  However, until very recently I thought at least these two points were clear: Physicians cannot prescribe to individuals based solely on an online questionnaire. This p ...

I thought you might like to see our Program’s cause of loss chart, updated to include data from our claims and lawsuits closed in 2015. Note that for the first time with this data, “medication issues” has pulled ahead of “suicide/attempted suicide” as the most identifiable cause of loss for psychiatrists. However, keep in mind that cases coded as “incorrect treatment” can certa ...

For only the second time in history, OCR has imposed a civil monetary penalty for a HIPAA violation. And the penalty was upheld by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) on summary judgement (meaning there was no genuine issue of material fact, and the party requesting summary judgement was entitled to judgment as a matter of law). The $239,800 penalty was imposed on Lincare, a comp ...

I often have conversations with doctors regarding tail coverage and always receive the same two questions: what is it, and do I need it if I want to switch my insurance to PRMS? What is it? Tail coverage only applies if you have a claims-made policy.  The insurance term for “tail” is an extended reporting period.  Having this coverage allows you to report claims after the polic ...

Background: Under HIPAA’s Breach Notification Rule, individuals must be notified if their protected health information (PHI), which includes demographic and medical information, has been improperly accessed or disclosed. However, if the information is encrypted consistent the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidance, using the Advanced Encryption Standard ...