Winstead Shareholders Katy Carmical, Corinne Smith and Kevin Wood recently discussed Medical Timeshares in a new American Health Law Association article.
The article can be read here: Medical Timeshares Require More Than What You Learned in Kindergarten
In September, Winstead hosted a virtual event entitled “Physician Roll-Up Transactions.” The event, which was moderated by Winstead shareholder Justin Hoover, featured Torie Berkowitz, Corporate Counsel & Director of Legal Affairs at Epiphany Dermatology, Joanne Comer, Sr. VP, Corporate Development at WellMed Medical Management, and Daniel
Healthcare data breaches occur on a daily basis in the US. Most healthcare providers expect it is a matter of “when” not “if” they will be impacted. The US Department of Health and Human Services reported 325 healthcare data breaches in in the first six months of 2021. As the threat of being hacked increases, more health care providers are purchasing cyber liability insurance to protect against data breaches or online attack.
The timing could not be worse. With cyberattacks on the rise, and demand for coverage surging, the $3 billion cyber insurance industry is facing higher costs and substantially more risk than ever before. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, premiums have more than doubled since 2015. Some companies report their policy premiums increasing 35% over prior year. Almost all premiums climbed by double digits in 2020.
As a result of soaring losses, insurers are doing more due diligence on customer’s applying for coverage, raising prices, and limiting the liability coverage. Upper limits of $10M are really a thing of the past and policy holders are receiving notices that the coverage is being slashed to $5M or even less if the policy holder cannot demonstrate their compliance with data privacy standards and best practices.
Due to the uptick in ransomware losses, the underwriting process now often requires the applicant to provide written documentation of security audits, submission of incident security plans, disaster recovery plans, and compliance with industry standards like SOC or HITRUST. Some companies will find that they are unable to obtain cyber coverage at all.
Continue Reading Impact of Ransomware Attacks on the Cyber Liability Insurance Market
Webinar: Physician Roll-Up Transactions
Join Winstead for a webinar on physician roll-up transactions. During the webinar, guest speakers will discuss various strategies and structures for successfully effecting roll-up transactions, including how physician groups should prepare in advance of exploring a potential transaction in order to maximize their value. The panel will also discuss current trends,
Most hospitals and health systems, regardless of size, are planning to increase their investments in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). ASCs have become the model for providing high-quality, low-cost surgical care, and many hospitals are converting their outpatient departments
Winstead Shareholder Sarah Churchill Llamas presented a webinar for TMLT titled “New Law Impacting your Practice: Information Blocking.” In the webinar, Sarah discusses the new Information Blocking rule that goes into effect on April 5, 2021. This rule affects patient access to data and system interoperability and it is intended to improve the electronic exchange
Join Winstead Shareholder Corinne Smith at the UT Law CLE Virtual Studio as she takes you through the hot topics and issues affecting medical practices including: practice operations, contracts, HIPAA and more. Learn more.
Date: Monday, March 8, 2021
Time: 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Cost: $55
Continuing Education Credit Information: 0.50 Credit Hour. UT
On Tuesday, December 15, Matthias Kleinsasser presented at the Austin Bar Association’s Health Law Section meeting. His presentation, titled “The Basics of the False Claims Act, STARK, and Anti-Kickback Statute and Recent Regulatory Developments,” provided a litigator’s perspective on the basics of the False Claims Act, STARK, and the Anti-Kickback Statute, along with a
Winstead PC Shareholder Sarah Churchill Llamas recently spoke with Medpage today about the federal emergency orders in response to the Covid-19 pandemic that currently allow physicians to prescribe opioid medications to patients via telemedicine. An excerpt is below:
“In the COVID-19 era, under relaxed federal emergency orders, licensed clinicians have been able to prescribe opioid analgesics for their patients even if they’ve only ever seen the patient via telehealth, rather than in person.
For providers like Stephen Bekanich, MD, a palliative care physician for Ascension Texas in Austin, this provision allows him to help seriously ill patients without requiring in-person visits that may be difficult for them or could expose them or their caregivers to the virus.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch…. This adage is over 50 years old, and the Office of Inspector General for Health & Human Services (OIG) wants to remind doctors that it remains true.
The pharmaceutical and medical device industry continues to woo doctors with invitations to educational speaker programs in high-end restaurants, with golf excursions, or at sporting venues. On Monday, November 16, the OIG issued a new Special Fraud Alert to remind doctors that speaker programs sponsored by pharmaceutical and medical device companies must serve a legitimate educational purpose and must be appropriately tailored to meet a need in the medical community.
The Open Payments Act requires pharmaceutical and medical device companies to report their spending on entertainment. According to Open Payments data, cumulative doctor payments in the three years from 2017-2019 exceeded $2 billion, and the OIG emphasized that this high amount of spending, and its potential to influence the prescribing or ordering habits of targeted physicians, was one of the reasons for this new alert.