The Health Law Ticker

Parties in peer review hearings can present a wide range of relevant evidence, regardless of its admissibility in a court of law.  But California has passed a new “apology law” that modifies that standard, erecting a potential hurdle for medical staffs to admit relevant evidence against practitioners in peer review hearings.

Under California law, statements, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy or a general sense of benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person involved in an accident are inadmissible in civil trials.  (Evid. Code, § 1160.)  ...

Given California’s shortage of primary care providers, nurse practitioners (“NPs”) are increasingly being asked to fill gaps in provider coverage.  With that background, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 890 (“AB 890”) into law in 2020.  AB 890 allows NPs to practice with expanded independence under certain conditions.  Although nearly two years have passed since AB 890 was enacted, regulatory and legislative delay have prevented full implementation of the law.

But that’s expected to change soon.  The Board of Registered Nursing anticipates the law will be fully ...

As healthcare grows increasingly complex, delivery structures continue to evolve.  A popular arrangement is the “Friendly PC” model, where large medical groups are backed by private equity or health system investment and administrative support.  But courts and lawmakers have become concerned that certain Friendly PC arrangements encroach on physician autonomy and violate the century-old prohibition on the corporate practice of medicine (“CPOM”).  A recent lawsuit—American Academy of Emergency Medicine Physician Group, Inc. v. Envision Healthcare Corporation ...

While hospital medical staffs have traditionally handled most of California’s peer review activity, recent trends are forcing more and more medical groups to wrestle with reporting and fair hearing obligations when disciplining physicians—or else face costly litigation from doctors and six-figure fines from the Medical Board of California.

Broadly speaking, peer review is how healthcare entities—including medical groups—determine whether a physician is qualified to practice in a particular healthcare setting and perform ongoing assessments of that ...

The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) on March 4, 2022, assessed the largest penalty against a health plan in the Department’s history. DMHC and the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) jointly announced the results of enforcement actions against Local Initiative Health Authority for Los Angeles County, more commonly known as L.A. Care. The penalties assessed by DMHC and DHCS against L.A. Care include $55 million in fines, which consist of a $35 million fine from DMHC and a $20 million sanction from DHCS. The amount is by far the largest penalty ...

When Covered Entities or Business Associates or their counsel analyze whether a particular disclosure of Protected Health Information (or PHI, as defined in HIPAA) is permissible, they should be sure also to analyze whether the disclosure complies with HIPAA’s Minimum Necessary Rule (MNR), which is oft forgot. This issue arises when disclosing PHI in response to subpoenas, which HIPAA permits as long as the disclosing party receives satisfactory assurances that the requesting party has made reasonable efforts to obtain a protective order or to notify the individual(s) who ...