Healthcare Risk Management
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Largest Data Breach of 2016 Hits Banner Health
The largest data breach so far in 2016 happened recently when hackers obtained information on 3.7 million patients and others from the computer servers of Banner Health, based in Phoenix.
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Largest HIPAA Settlement Ever for Advocate
The largest ever settlement of alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was made with the Chicago-based Advocate Health Care Network, one of the largest health systems in the country, which has agreed to pay $5.55 million and adopt a corrective action plan.
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Doctor Challenges Medical Errors ‘Hysteria’
A report calling medical errors the third leading cause of death has serious flaws that make that conclusion invalid, according to a physician. He says the report contributes to an irrational hysteria over medical errors.
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Search Warrants Don’t Mean All Access for Police
Search warrants can be more intimidating than subpoenas because law enforcement officials show up at the facility and demand access to certain areas and documents. That event can lead some risk managers or other hospital leaders just to glance at the search warrant and wave the police officers in.
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You Must Respond Carefully When You Are Served With a Subpoena
Responding to subpoenas is a routine task for risk managers and general counsel, but just because it is routine doesn’t mean it should be taken lightly. There are right and wrong ways to respond, and your actions at this early stage of potential litigation can affect the outcome later.
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Caution: Patients’ Printed Records May Not Match the Electronic Health Record
Most plaintiffs’ attorneys now request audit trails immediately with the first contact for e-discovery, and risk managers often groan when they think of the work involved. However, there is a reason to seek the audit trail for your own benefit: It might show more exculpatory evidence than a paper printout of the same file.
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Church Amendment Protects Abortion Views
The Church Amendment that a physician is citing in her claims that a hospital restricted her speech on abortion normally is invoked by healthcare providers on the other side of the controversial issue, says John E. Petite, JD, an attorney with the law firm Greensfelder in St. Louis.
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Complaint Alleges Effort to Silence Doctor
In the Office for Civil Rights complaint filed by Diane J. Horvath-Cosper, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist and fellow at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC, she outlines what she says was an insistence by hospital administrators to stop her from talking publicly about abortion.
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Hospital Faces OCR Complaint for Gag Order on Abortion
The case raises important questions about how much a healthcare employer can restrict employees’ private activities.
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Radiologist’s Failure to Diagnose Breast Cancer Results in Jury Verdict of $6.9 Million
In 2008, a 39-year-old woman underwent a mammogram. The doctor who reviewed the results reported that the calcifications, or calcium deposits, found in the woman’s right breast were benign. Although a prior mammogram screening in 2003 revealed no such calcifications, and the woman’s medical records reported a family history of breast cancer, the doctor did not order further diagnostic testing of the woman’s right breast.