ALERT: Technical Noncompliance with HIPAA Can Lead to Big Penalties
Author: Avery Delott
As discussed in prior client alerts, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the agency charged with HIPAA enforcement, has increased HIPAA compliance initiatives in recent months and is poised to continue its enforcement activities throughout 2017. If recent enforcement actions are a guide, the OCR is also prepared to issue fines for technical HIPAA violations to which it has not previously subjected health care providers… Read More
ALERT: IRS Announces Proposed Partnership Audit Regulations Which Impact Limited Liability Companies and Partnerships
Author: John B. Waters
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released Proposed Regulations under Section 1101 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA), which provide that for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, all entities taxable as partnerships (including limited liability companies) will be subject to a centralized audit regime. This will make the partnership liable for taxes relating to adjustments to its income, gain, deduction, loss or credits, unless the partnership is eligible to elect out of that regime (and does so) in the manner described in the Proposed Regulations or elects in the manner described in the Proposed Regulations to pass the adjustments to the persons who were partners (or members) during the tax year which resulted in the tax adjustment… Read More
INDUSTRY NEWS: Trump Wants to Return Power to Patients, and Consumer-Ordered Lab Tests May be Perfect Place to Start
Forbes | Pharma & Healthcare
If you want a simple blood test, like a basic metabolic panel, and live in New York, Rhode Island or many other states, it may cost you dearly–not only for the cost of the test itself (whatever that eventually turns out to be), but also for the cost of visiting your doctor, who must order the test. This can be pricey–I was recently billed over $400 for a 10-minute uncomplicated visit with my physician... More Information
INDUSTRY NEWS: Bad Hospital Design Is Making Us Sicker
The New York Times
As a medical resident working 30-hour shifts, I quickly came to cherish those rare moments when I could duck out of the bustling and brightly lit hospital corridors and lay my head on a pillow. Granted, it was often in a barren call room with a stiff mattress and a rumbling heater. There I’d lie, counting the seconds before an alarm sounded to alert me that a patient might have shifted in bed or an IV medication finished, or an overhead page called some doctor (please, not me!) to some floor to deal with yet another issue… More Information
INDUSTRY NEWS: Smartphones to Become Pocket Doctors After Scientists Discover Camera Flash and Microphone Can be Used to Diagnose Illness
The Telegraph
Smartphones will soon become mobile laboratories which can monitor bone density, calculate red blood cell levels and even predict if an asthma attack is imminent. Scientists are repurposing the technology which already exists within phones, such as accelerometers, camera flashes and microphones to use as medical tools… More Information
