Healthcare Risk Management
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Patient Termination Requires Right Steps, Good Documentation
Terminating a relationship with a patient or banning someone from a hospital is never done lightly, and, fortunately, it does not happen often. But when it is necessary, healthcare organizations must tread carefully to ensure that the patient is afforded other opportunities and that the potential liabilities are minimized.
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Patient Advocacy System Shown to Lower Malpractice Costs
A patient advocacy reporting program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was associated with a significant decrease in malpractice claim costs for high-risk clinicians in an orthopedic practice network, suggesting a strategy that other hospitals can employ.
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HITECH Audits Return: OCR Promises Enforcement Changes for HIPAA
The Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) has reopened the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) audit program and will begin audits of HIPAA-regulated entities later in 2024. The audits will focus on the Security Rule, particularly the requirements for security risk analyses and risk management.
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Ohio Appellate Court Refuses New Trial for Patient Plaintiff with Errors in Record on Appeal
Recently, an appeals court in Ohio affirmed a verdict finding a defendant group of doctors not liable for medical malpractice in failing to detect a woman’s cancerous tumor. After the jury reached a verdict for the defendants, the plaintiff argued that her lawyer should have been allowed to impeach the defendant pathologist who she accused of failing to detect her cancerous growth.
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Virginia Supreme Court Orders New Trial in Medical Malpractice Case After Trial Court Refuses to Give Jury Instruction About Alternative Causes
Recently, the Virginia Supreme Court ordered a new trial in a medical malpractice case in which a woman was awarded $1.6 million. The verdict was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. However, on appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court, the court found that the trial court erred by refusing to give the defendants’ proposed jury instruction on the issue of alternative causation to the jury.
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OCR Investigates Change Healthcare After Major Cyber Incident
In an unusual move signifying the severity of the huge cyberattack on Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealth Group breach, the Office of Civil Rights is formally investigating the incident.
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Steps to Take in Response to OCR Guidance on Online Tracking
The Office of Civil Rights’ updated guidance on HIPAA and online tracking technologies leaves many questions, but covered entities should take certain steps now.
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OCR’s Update on Online Tracking Guidance Still Tricky
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently updated its December 2022 bulletin regarding the use of third-party tracking technologies by HIPAA-regulated entities “to increase clarity for regulated entities and the public.” However, the clarity is questionable.
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Review Cyber Risk Insurance, Brace for Transparency Issues
Pay attention to your policies for cyber insurance or data liability when they come up for renewal or if you are in the process of obtaining them,
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State Laws Affect Privacy Compliance; Data Tracking Also a Concern
New state privacy laws can affect hospital operations but might be overlooked when the focus is on HIPAA compliance.