News

Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP announced today that three attorneys have been elected to the firm’s partnership: Angela Artherton, Katie Watson Bingham and Tyler D. Bone.

On November 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized the 2019 Physician Fee Schedule and the Quality Pay­ment Program rules (2019 Rules).

A recently approved $2.2 million settlement by an Arkansas hospital accused of improper billing practices in violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA) could prompt similar lawsuits against other hospitals.

At this year’s Arkansas Hospital Associations Annual Meeting, Medical Malpractice Attorney Michelle Ator took part in a panel discussion that focused on recent developments, trends and challenges in legal and risk management.

There has been much written regarding the “voluntary” nature of instituting and maintaining an “effective compliance program” for healthcare providers.

By Lynda M. Johnson, Timothy C. Ezell and Tonya S. Gierke Published in Arkansas Medical News (July/August) Ponemon Institute recently calculated the average cost of a healthcare data breach in 2017 to be $380 per record. In addition, the most recent enforcement data provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) indicates that the OCR has settled or imposed Civil Monetary Penalties of nearly $79 million dollars since the enactment of HIPAA.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), healthcare workers are four times more likely to be a victim of workplace violence with nearly 75 percent of all reported workplace assaults occurring in the healthcare and social service settings.