Florida’s First District Court of Appeal issued its opinion in the highly watched case of Southern Baptist Hospital of Florida, Inc. v. Charles et al. The First District Court ruled that the federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (PSQIA): Expressly preempts any broad discovery rights afforded under Florida’s Amendment 7 for documents … Continue Reading
On June 2, 2015, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), provided direction to state Medicaid Directors on the implementation of Section 6401 of the Affordable Care Act, Provider Screening and Other Enrollment Requirements under Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).… Continue Reading
The Emergency Care Research Institute, (ECRI) Patient Safety Organization (PSO) has issued its 2015 “top 10 list” of safety concerns for multiple healthcare settings, such as hospitals, ambulatory care centers, doctor’s offices and nursing homes.[i] This year’s list is as follows:… Continue Reading
The increased use of electronic medical records (“EMR”) is changing not only the way physicians practice medicine but also the way discovery is conducted in medical malpractice lawsuits. Plaintiffs’ attorneys seek to discover not only the contents of the medical records created by defendant healthcare providers, but also seek audit logs and access reports which … Continue Reading
On June 20, 2013, the Florida Supreme Court held in Franks v. Bowers that a medical practice’s custom pre-surgery binding arbitration agreement (the “Agreement“) was unenforceable because it violated key public policy objectives of Florida’s Arbitration Code as well as Florida’s Medical Malpractice Act. A. What went wrong? In short, the Agreement was too one-sided. … Continue Reading