Large Verdict, Little Recourse
By: Sebastian J. Conforto, Esq.
On October 17, 2012, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an order rescinding Rule 1042.72 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. The now-rescinded rule previously provided malpractice defendants recourse to request that a trial court reduce — or remit — the amount of a jury’s verdict.
Jonathan Stepanian and Phil Miles to Present at Medical Records Law Seminar
By: Jonathan B. Stepanian, Esq.
I’m pleased to be presenting at a seminar on Medical Records law together with my colleague, Phil Miles, on January 31, 2013 in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The law and regulations governing use, disclosure, storage, and security of medical records has significantly evolved over the past two years. I will be presenting updates regarding the HIPAA and HITECH Acts. Phil will be addressing Employers, Employees, and Medical Record Requests.
The complete agenda and registration are available here. We hope you can join us.
Assessing the Health of Your Business
By: Thomas Schrack, Esq.
The health care industry faces continuing increases in competition and costs. This climate challenges practices to keep up with the times. This article discusses a few simple questions to ask when assessing whether, from a business perspective, your practice is monitoring and maintaining its health.
Pennsylvania Enacts Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act
By: Carolyn E. Moser Esq.
Any medical practitioner, or lawyer practicing in a medically-related field, understands the difficulty of medically managing a patient who lacks the capacity to make important decisions for him or herself. In such situations, it becomes necessary to rely on decision makers such as powers of attorney or family members. However, there is the potential that competing individuals will vocalize opposing wishes, all claimed to be in the best interest of the incapacitated person.
Where there is no interested person to make the decisions, or the decisions of competing interested parties can not be reconciled, it may become necessary to seek Court appointment of a legal guardian. Such instances are further complicated when the incapacitated person has ties outside of the Commonwealth, because each state has its own distinct system of protecting adults who need the assistance of a legal guardian.
Pennsylvania Amends Occupational Therapy Practice Act
By: Jonathan B. Stepanian, Esq.
On July 5, 2012 the Governor approved amendments to Pennsylvania’s Occupational Therapy Practice Act (“Act”). Notable changes to the Act include required professional liability insurance for occupational therapists, the ability of certified registered nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants to refer patients for occupational therapy, and creation of an impaired professional program.
In the Wild: Flat Fees Not So Simple
By: Jonathan B. Stepanian, Esq.
Spotted again in the wild is my recent article in the American Bar Association’s Litigation News. The article addresses flat fee arrangements. What at first blush may seem to be a simple alternative fee arrangement is actually more complicated and may vary from state-to-state and whether it is applied to a civil or criminal case.
In civil cases, flat or minimum fees paid in advance may be acceptable if the fee is in exchange for something done or to be done by the attorney. “A careful attorney would, in the engagement agreement, point out that all or a portion of a nonrefundable fee is deemed earned at the outset by virtue of the lawyer no longer being able to represent competitors of the client on other similar matters” says Hanthorn. He cautions, however, that states have differing views on minimum fee arrangements. “In some states, such as Texas, for a fee to be earned at the outset the full amount of that portion of the fee has to be attributable to representing one client and foregoing others.”
Breakdown of Supreme Court Affordable Care Act Ruling
By: Jonathan B. Stepanian, Esq.
The United States Supreme Court, on June 28, 2012, issued its ruling on the pair of cases challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Court’s ruling in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius will undoubtedly have historical implications on the federal government’s use of power under the Commerce and Taxing and Spending Clauses of the United States Constitution.
With regard to the ACA, the Court held the individual mandate a permissible use of the federal government’s taxing authority. The ACA’s Medicaid expansion, however, was found to exceed the federal government’s constitutional spending authority because it was unduly coercive on the states. Here we offer our breakdown and analysis of the Court’s opinion.
CMS Attempts to Clarify Methods of Reimbursing Future Medical Expenses
By: Jonathan B. Stepanian, Esq.
Think having to report settlements with Medicare beneficiaries was bad? Just wait for Rules coming that require consideration of Medicare’s interest in reimbursement of future medical expenses. CMS has issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking soliciting comments on seven methods of ensuring protection of Medicare’s interest for current and prospective Medicare beneficiaries.
Affordable Care Act Timeline
By: Jonathan B. Stepanian, Esq.
Without further adieu — and just in time for the Supreme Court to rule on its constitutionality — we have published our Affordable Care Act (ACA) Timeline. Many available timelines regarding key provisions of the ACA are either hard to understand, lack important implementation dates, or lack references to source materials.
These shortcomings led to the development of our own ACA Timeline, which is an evolving piece of work. We are continuing to update it with additional key provisions and citations.
Pennsylvania Issues Electronic Discovery Rules
By: Jonathan B. Stepanian, Esq.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has amended the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure to specifically provide for the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). The Rule amendments are effective August 1, 2012.
With its amendments to the Pennsylvania Rules, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has rejected the significantly more stringent standards developed in federal court. Although Pennsylvania will now specifically permit the discovery of ESI, the Rules Committee in its Explanatory Comment stated that this discovery — like all state court discovery — is subject to a proportionality standard.
