EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
INDEPENDENT agency created in 1964-works to eliminate employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, disability, age or other criteria unrelated to job performance.
ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974)
Provides standards for funding, vesting, fiduciary responsibilities of pension and 401(K) plans.
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
1996 federal law that addresses the sharing of patient information among healthcare organizations.
3 internal reasons PHI may be released without authorization of patient?
Treatment
Payment
Operations
3 Main categories of HIPAA provisions:
1. Transaction Code Sets
2. Privacy Rule
3. Security Rule
4 distinct areas of the HIPAA Security Rule
1. Administrative procedures
2. Physical safeguards
3. Technical security services
4. Technical security mechanisms
HIPAA civil penalties
$100 per incident for "innocent mistakes"
$10,000 per incident for "willful neglect"
$50,000 per incident for "uncorrected willful neglect
HIPAA criminal penalties
- Up to $50K and 1 year in prison for knowingly and improperly obtaining and disclosing PHI;
- Up to $100K and 5 years in prison if the offense is under false pretenses;
- Up to $250K and 10 years in prison for obtaining or disclosing PHI with the intenti
7 Minimum objectives of Corporate Compliance
1. Establish standards and procedures
2. High-level personnel have overall responsibility
3. Diligence in not involving with people "with propensity to engage in illegal activities"
4. Effectively communicate standards (educate staff)
5. Reasonable steps
Corporate compliance risk areas
- substandard care
- HIPAA Privacy
- billing MCR or MCD substantially in excess of usual charges
Hill-Burton Act
Provided federal funds for the construction of private hospitals during the 1960s
501(c)(3) exemption standards
- organized exclusively for charitable purposes
- cannot have any noncharitable purposes
- may not benefit private interests
- does no prohibit payment of reasonable compensation for management
- Community Board
- Open medical staff
- 24-hour ER
- Provisi
What is the 2-Prong test for hospital joint ventures (Revenue Ruling 98-5)?
1st Prong: Is the Primary Purpose of the JV to pay dividends to the owners or to accomplish a charitable purpose?
2nd Prong: The tax-exempt entity retain enough control of the JV to guarantee the operations are exclusively for public purposes
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA)
2002 Act that imposes obligations on companies to disclose and certify the accuracy of their financial condition.
Includes:
- document destruction and whistleblower policies
- exposure of CEOs, CFOs and Board Members
- effective compliance programs
- code
Stark Law
Prohibits physicians from referring designated healthcare services (DHS) for Medicare patients to any entity with which they or an immediate family member has a financial relationship.
Stark Exceptions
- "arms length negotiation"
- must be commercially reasonable
- must have a signed written agreement
- set a fair market value
Definition of Fraud
The INTENTIONAL deception or misrepresentation that and individual KNOWS to be false or does not believe t be true and KNOWS that the deception could result in an unauthorized benefit
Definition of Abuse
Incidents that are consistent with sound practices, directly or indirectly resulting in unnecessary costs to the government (can be an honest mistake)
Definition of Kickback
- any inducement, payment, solicitation, offer or payment of any kind
- in return for referrals for recommending, ordering, leasing or purchasing a service or item
- that may be at least partially paid for through a federal program
List of Designated Health Services (DHS)
- IP and OP services
- OP prescription drugs
- PT and OT
- Imaging (except Nuc Med or PET)
- Prosthetics
- Parenteral and Enteral Nutrients
- DME
What services are NOT part of DHS?
- Lithotripsy
- Ambulatory Surgery
- Nuc Med / PET
- Cardiac Cath
- Neurological Testing
Anti-Kickback Penalties
$25K and up to 5 years prison for each offense; subject to exclusion from Medicare; Government may collect treble damages plus $50K for each violation
False Claims Act of 1986
- Qui Tam provision to encourage whistleblowers
- Whistleblower may recover between 15% and 25% of what the government recovers
- Government may collect up to 3 times the amount of false claim
- provider may be excluded from MCR and MCD
EMTALA
Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act
EMTALA requirments
Hospital EDs must provide medical screening to any individual and requires EDs to examine and treat anyone with an emergency medical condition
Civil monetary penalties may be assessed against hospitals and/or physicians
Also includes an "anti-dumping" pro
Office of the Inspector General (OIG)
government agency that investigates and prosecutes fraud
Medigap
a private insurance policy that pays the difference between the medical charge and the amount that Medicare pays
Medicare Part A
The part of the Medicare program that pays for hospitalization, care in a skilled nursing facility, home health care, and hospice care.
Medicare Part B
The part of the Medicare program that pays for physician services, outpatient hospital services, durable medical equipment, and other services and supplies.
Voluntary
Medicare Part C
managed care health plans offered to medicare beneficiaries under the medicare advantage program
Medicare Part D
Medicare prescription drug reimbursement plans
Secondary Payor Rule
Medicare does not pay for services of which MCR is not the primary payor
Medicaid
A federal and state assistance program that pays for health care services for people who cannot afford them.
1965
Healthcare Quality Improvement Act (HQIA) of 1986
Established the National Practitioner Data Bank;
Immunity for certain peer review activities
4-part test for HQIA immunity
1. Must be taken under the reasonable belief that the action was in furtherance of the quality of healthcare
2. Reasonable effort to obtain the facts
3. Physician afforded notice and hearing procedures
4. Reasonable belief the peer review action was warra
Patient rights under HIPAA
1. receive a copy of Notice of Privacy Practices
2. request restriction of use for treatment payment options
3. request confidential communication
4. access and copy information
5. requests for amendments
6. an accounting of disclosures
7. right to notifi
Torts
wrongful acts for which an injured party has the right to sue
Respondeat superior
Let the master answer" an employer is vicariously liable for the behavior of an employee working within his or her scope of employment
Res ipsa loquitur
A doctrine under which negligence may be inferred simply because an event occurred, if it is the type of event that would not occur in the absence of negligence. Literally, the term means "the facts speak for themselves.
Battery
Failure of consent - an intentional tort
Negligent Credentialing
Occurs if a hospital has retained a physician that the governing body of the hospital knew or should have known was incompetent.
Malpractice
Failure by a health professional to meet accepted standards
False imprisonment
Failure to release a patient from a facility (usually mental health)
ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education)
Established in 1981, evaluates and accredits medical residency programs in the US