Beginning January 1, 2015, employers with 100 or more employees that fail to offer health insurance coverage to full-time employees or that offer health insurance coverage that is not “affordable” are subject to penalties under the Affordable Care Act. Employers that fail to offer health insurance coverage are subject to a penalty of up to...Read More

KDDK attorneys Stephen S. Lavallo and Michael G. Smith will be the featured speakers for the Indiana Occupational Therapy Association (IOTA) Southwest District’s upcoming seminar presentation: “Legal Aspects of Documentation”   Steve Lavallo has more than 25 years’ experience representing businesses in the defense of worker’s compensation claims. He will discuss important aspects of record keeping for healthcare providers....Read More

In this digital age, it seems that everything is being recorded. Audio and video recording of ballgames, meetings and birthday parties with a cell phone is the norm. However, what about a patient’s office visit or a surgical procedure when the patient is under anesthesia? Can a patient in Indiana record these encounters? Should physicians and other...Read More

Two federal appeals court issued conflicting rulings today on whether the government could offer subsidies in the form of tax credits on health insurance premiums for people in approximately 36 states who purchased insurance on federally-run exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit:  Government CANNOT Subsidize...Read More

Ever increasing demands are being placed on the American health care industry by our growing population and the complexity of medicine. In response, our health care system is seeing an explosion in the ancillary health care professions, including advanced practice nurses. In Indiana, an advanced practice nurse (APN) may be authorized by law to independently evaluate...Read More

The Supreme Court ruled earlier this week 5-4 in favor of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. in the case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (formerly named Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby). The case was the strongest legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act since 2012. The case concerned the Department of Health and Human Services...Read More

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) established a national Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (“HCFAC”) under the joint direction of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”). HCFAC coordinates federal, state and local enforcement actions designed to “prevent future abuse” and to...Read More

When the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act “HIPAA” was implemented, it was designed to regulate “covered entities” such as health care providers, hospitals and health insurance companies.  Because of this limited regulation, many entities with access to “protected health information” or “PHI” were outside the scope of HIPAA.  Those “non-covered” entities included data storage...Read More

Ever since the signing into law of the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act (MMA) by Governor Otis Bowen in 1975, physicians and other health care providers in Indiana have had no worries about potential exposure of their personal assets as the result of a judgment in favor of a patient in a medical malpractice lawsuit. This...Read More

The Obama Administration made a surprise announcement yesterday that implementation of the new employer and insurer reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been postponed. Planned to commence on January 1, 2014, implementation of the large employer penalty and related employer mandate have been pushed back one year. This means that employers and/or...Read More