Articles Posted in Physician Practices

Naturopathy-Physician-1-e1686066389978Our healthcare and business law firm works with many providers and other allied health professionals apply for and obtain licensure in Georgia.  Holistic medicine has grown in popularity and accessibility, which has led to an increase in functional medicine practices around the country.  Relatedly, the practice of naturopathy also appeals to many consumers.  The question we are periodically asked is whether Georgia allows naturopathy practitioners to practice naturopathy in Georgia.  The post provides a general overview of the answer to that question.  If you have questions regarding this blog post or would like to speak with counsel regarding becoming licensed in Georgia, you may contact us at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

1950 Act Repealed in 1956

In 1950, Georgia established legislation allowing for licensing as a “naturopathic practitioner.”  However, after only six years, the legislation was repealed.  Thus, since 1956, there is no naturopathic license in Georgia.  Such practice may still be allowed, unless it is considered to wade into the waters of other licenses, which it is.

Practicing Naturopathy is Considered the Practice of Medicine

In an official opinion in 1981, the Georgia Attorney General’s Office issued an official opinion stating that naturopathy practice falls within the Georgia Medical Practice Act’s definition of “the practice of medicine,” and does not fall within any established exceptions.  Continue reading ›

med-mal-featured-1-e1685565240921Our healthcare and business law firm works with many physician and other health care providers who own their own medical practice.  The Georgia Medical Board and Georgia Legislature, as well as many other state medical boards and legislatures, have noted concern with consumer confusion with the numerous titles held by non-physician health care practitioners.  For instance, “In a survey done a few years ago by the AMA, 39% of patients thought a Doctor of Nursing Practice was a physician and 11% weren’t sure. Half were either completely wrong or confused by a title. More than half (61%) thought a Doctor of Medical Science was a physician, which is completely incorrect.” M. Blackman, J. Commins, “Industry Stakeholders Divided on GA ‘Truth and Transparency’ Act,” Health Leaders Media (May 25, 2023).  This and other information caused the Georgia Legislature to act in an attempt to protect consumers from misunderstandings.  That change resulted in Senate Bill 197, known as the Health Care Practitioners Truth and Transparency Act, which was signed into law in May of 2023.  The bill made changes to the “Consumer Protection and Awareness Act,” O.C.G.A. Section 43-1-33.  Importantly, the legislatures concern here seemed to arise less from intentional or malicious misstatements from health care practitioners, and more from consumer misinformation/misunderstanding caused honestly by the numerous titles and credentials that may be held by practitioners that consumers do not understand.

This post identifies three key provisions with the Health Care Practitioners Truth and Transparency Act.  If you have questions regarding this blog post or would like to speak with counsel regarding laws that may impact you or your medical spa practice, you may contact us at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

  1. Expansion of Definition of and Rules for “Advertisements”

13150124_G-e1683216085435Our healthcare and business law firm works with many providers and other allied health professionals who are beginning their journeys of opening a Medical Spa.  They have been growing in popularity across the country.  Medical Spas are unique practices in that they involve many medical and non-medical procedures.  There are many factors to consider in opening a medical spa, and this series focuses on key factors to consider when opening a medical spa in Georgia.  Although our healthcare law firm has assisted numerous clients in establishing a medical spa from the ground up, each client continues to present unique issues requiring our firm to research and analyze the nuances of each client’s intended setup.  This Georgia Medical Spa Series is intended to provide a useful overview of some key laws, rules, and regulations impacting medical spas.

This post in the Medical Spa Series provides examples of common OSHA violations for medical practices.  If you have questions regarding this blog post or would like to speak with counsel regarding opening your medical spa practice, you may contact us at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

OSHA maintains a list of Frequently Cited OSHA Standards, which can be narrowed down by industry/NAICS code.  There is not a specific med spa code, but there is a code for health care and social assistance (NAICS Code 62). Continue reading ›

HealthcareImage_062618-700x525-1-e1682709849274Our healthcare and business law firm works with many providers and other allied health professionals who are beginning their journeys of opening a Medical Spa.  Medical Spas have been growing in popularity across the country.  They are unique practices in that they involve medical and non-medical procedures.  There are many factors to consider in opening a medical spa, and this medical spa series focuses on key factors to consider when opening a medical spa in Georgia.  Although our healthcare law firm has assisted numerous clients in establishing a medical spa from the ground up, each client continues to present unique issues requiring our firm to research and analyze the nuances of each client’s intended setup.  This Georgia Medical Spa Series is intended to provide a useful overview of some key laws, rules, and regulations impacting medical spas.

This post in the Medical Spa Series focuses on General OSHA standards.  The next post outlines the most common OSHA violations for medical practices.  If you have questions regarding this blog post or would like to speak with counsel regarding opening your medical spa practice, you may contact us at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is part of the United States Department of Labor of Labor.  22 states have a OSHA-approved State Plans covering private sector and state and local government works, 7 states have OSHA-approved State Plans covering only state and local government workers, and the rest of the states operate under federal OSHA jurisdiction.  “State Plans,” OSHA.gov.  Georgia is under federal OSHA jurisdiction covering most private sector workers (not state and local government workers). Continue reading ›

nurses-and-docs-e1681928313827Our healthcare and business law firm often assists physicians and other providers in obtaining and maintaining licensure.  Sometimes, physicians desire assistance to ensure a smooth process without having any occurrences to disclose.  The majority of the time, however, when we are hired to assist in licensure matters, the physician has a past or ongoing event that they need assistance with.  We usually begin by evaluating whether the occurrence must be, should be, or need not be disclosed.  One important question that is always present and concerning to many is the mental health question, which is also the first question on the Applicant Questionnaire section of the license application in Georgia.  There have been different iterations of this question over the years, and earlier this year, the Medical Board modified the questions once again.  This post explains the progression of this question in Georgia. If you need assistance applying for or maintaining licensure or would like to discuss this blog post, you may contact our healthcare and business law firm at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

The mental health question on applications for licensure can be alarming to many physicians. Continue reading ›

Prepayment-Review-Shift-Blog-07-22-2016-e1681242443952Our healthcare and business law firm often assists medical practices in responding to medical record and coding audits initiated by private and governmental payors.  If a payor believes there are consistent concerns with a medical practice’s claims, the payor may place the practice under a prepayment review process.  This process can be very concerning to a practice and, in some cases, can place a practice at risk of shutting down.  A previous post provided an overview of standard claims processes versus a prepayment review process.  Prepayment review processes are different depending on which payor you are dealing with and whether the payor is private or government.  Herein, I provide a few tips for dealing specifically with TRICARE/Humana Military regarding a prepayment review process.  If you have questions about an insurance audit or prepayment review process or would like to discuss this blog post, you may contact our healthcare and business law firm at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

In a previous blog post, I presented three tips for dealing with an audit from any payor.  Those tips remain relevant for trying to end a prepayment review with TRICARE/Humana Military.  The below tips are targeted specifically for dealing with a prepayment review process with TRICARE/Humana Military that is causing harm to your business due to the lack of claims being timely paid.

Tip 1: Get Your Community Liaison Involved

As a TRICARE provider, you have a Community Liaison that you can connect with via email and through the portal.  Your Community Liaison is there to answer your questions and connect you with the right people. Continue reading ›

health-medical-e1680627379406Our healthcare and business law firm often assists medical practices in responding to medical record and coding audits initiated by private and governmental payors.  Responding to each payor is unique.  The way I might respond to a private payor may differ from how I respond to a government payor.  This post, however, provides a few tried-and-true tips to consider when faced with an audit.  If you have questions about an insurance audit or would like to discuss this blog post, you may contact our healthcare and business law firm at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

Tip 1- Hire Counsel

Although this sounds self-serving, it is not.  Attorneys who are experienced assisting medical practices with responding to insurance audits are well worth their cost.  Continue reading ›

rawpixel-703120-unsplash-e1678464455417Our healthcare and business law firm often assists physicians and other providers in employment matters, from reviewing proposed contracts to litigating non-compete matters.  We’ve written previous material on physician employment, including Keys to Negotiating a Good Contract and Physician Non-Compete Agreements.  As mentioned in our previous post, our firm has recently been dealing with issues raised by co-terminus language, or language providing that a physician’s hospital clinical privileges automatically terminate when the employment contract is terminated.  The previous post provided an overview of co-terminus language and potential issues raised by such language.  This post focuses on possible ways a physician can protect herself or himself from those issues. If you have NPDB or employment questions or would like to discuss this blog post, you may contact our healthcare and business law firm at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

 

Although there may be many ways for a physician to protect themselves from the issues posed by co-terminus language (which issues we detailed in our previous blog post available here), below are a few ways we have dealt with in the past, some in the contract negotiation phase and others are actions to take after employment has ended.  Note, these actions do not insulate a physician from issues, but rather add protections to try and reduce the chance that the physician is met with problems relating to clinical privileges. Continue reading ›

understanding-physician-employment-contracts-e1677703586595Our healthcare and business law firm often assists physicians and other providers in employment matters, from reviewing proposed contracts to litigating non-compete matters.  Physician employment agreements are often between 15 to 30 pages long, but many important terms are imbedded in those pages.  We’ve written previous material on physician employment, including Keys to Negotiating a Good Contract and Physician Non-Compete Agreements.  Our firm has recently been dealing with issues raised by co-terminus language, or language providing that a physician’s hospital clinical privileges automatically terminate when the employment contract is terminated.  Herein, I provide (1) an overview of the language and (2) potential issues raised by such language.  The next blog post will focus on possible ways a physician can protect themselves from those issues. If you have NPDB or employment questions or would like to discuss this blog post, you may contact our healthcare and business law firm at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

  1. Co-Terminus Language

Here is an example of co-terminus language:

Physician’s Medical Staff Membership and privileges shall terminate concurrently with the termination or expiration of this Agreement. Any provision of Company policies to the contrary notwithstanding, Physician and the Company agree that the Company has no duty to provide any notice, hearing or review in connection with the termination or suspension of Physician’s Medical Staff Membership and privileges hereunder.

The point of co-terminus language is so that the hospital does not have to follow their medical staff bylaws, which typically provide that privileges must either be voluntarily resigned or involuntarily removed. Continue reading ›

opioid-painkillers-crisis-and-drug-abuse-concept-o-49X49YX-e1676319930781After the CDC issued its 2016 Opioid Prescribing Guideline, which focused on recommendations for primary care physicians, many physicians greatly limited prescribing opioids.  This was in response to the opioid epidemic in our country which had an impact on reducing opioid abuse.  However, it also may have left patients undertreated for pain given the 2016 guideline’s emphasis on not prescribing opioids.  In November 2022, the CDC issued updated guidance for a broader group of clinicians.  This blog series provides an overview of the more-than-60-page CDC guidance.  This first blog will provide an overview of what the guidance is intended to accomplish and how it is presented.  Our attorneys are experienced in advising healthcare businesses and pain management practices.  If you have pain management prescribing questions or would like to discuss this blog post, you may contact our healthcare and business law firm at (404) 685-1662 (Atlanta) or (706) 722-7886 (Augusta), or by email, info@hamillittle.com. You may also learn more about our law firm by visiting www.hamillittle.com.

First, the updated guidance “is intended for clinicians who are treating outpatients aged ≥18 years with acute (duration of <1 month), subacute (duration of 1–3 months), or chronic (duration of >3 months) pain, and excludes pain management related to sickle cell disease, cancer-related pain treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care.” Continue reading ›

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