In 2021, the U.S. saw an increase in the prosecution of healthcare fraud schemes from the Department of Justice (DOJ). Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, efforts are increasing in the investigation, arrest, and eventual guilty verdict and plea of those individuals and organizations defrauding the system for personal gain. The following two case summaries detail […]
What’s Going On? On October 28, 2021, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released some information on an emergency temporary standard (ETS), which has been commonly called the Vax-Or-Test Rule. Anticipation was looming until the full report was published on November 5, 2021. A core component of this release was a requirement that […]
Since the start of the pandemic almost two years ago, nearly 1 in 5 healthcare workers have quit their jobs. Workers have cited COVID-19, poor pay, and burnout as the top reasons for resignation and more recently–termination. As vaccines for COVID-19 have become more readily available and are shown to protect against the original virus […]
The challenges that healthcare administrators are facing are not easy to fix and the cost of many of these issues extends beyond the crippled budget that many organizations are now managing. I. Employee Well-Being Many employees have endured more in the last year than they may have in their entire careers. These issues range from […]
A new program launched by CMS called the Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model is an experimental program to help decrease the cost of healthcare. This program will provide 50 start-ups with thousands of patients and a controlled budget to care for that patient’s healthcare needs. The program is scheduled to last 6 years and […]
One of the questions that I get most about being a nurse and a lawyer is what did it take to get here. Honestly, the educational journey to becoming a nurse and a lawyer was easy. Find a program, apply, receive your admission letter, and then matriculate. The hard part is reconciling your identity, trying […]
Is your employer giving you an incentive for getting the COVID-19 vaccine? If you are an employer and you are giving out incentives to an employee who gets vaccinated, here are a few things you should consider: If you offer any incentives to receive a vaccine you are in danger of potentially violating discrimination laws […]
If you know how to document then you know how to defend yourself in court and against the board. Learning how to document is not something that is well taught in school, orientation, and many times by preceptors or within organizations. Let’s review a few cases in which documentation was at the center of the […]
Starting this month, clinical notes will be among electronic information that must not be blocked and must be made available free of charge to patients. The change implements the 21st Century Cures Act, which requires that healthcare providers grant patients access without charge to all the health information in their electronic medical records “without delay.” […]
