The New York State Legislature concluded the 2024 Legislative Session in early June, marked by another extended budget negotiation cycle, leaving legislators with a shortened timeline to advance policy in the final weeks remaining in session. The legislative session most notably resulted in an agreement on a record $237 billion budget as well as the … Continued

A compendium of citations to recent topics published in health law journals A Loophole in the Fourth Amendment: The Government’s Unregulated Purchase of Intimate Health Data, Rhea Bhatia, 98 Wash L Rev Online 67 (2024). Addressing Mental Health in Young Adults: A Modern Approach Compared to Previous Generations, Breeha Shah, 25 DePaul J. Health Care … Continued

Southern District of New York Reaffirms that ERISA Does Not Completely Preempt Out-of-Network Providers’ State Law Claims Against Health Plan Administrators Based on Pre-Service Promises of Payment Jenkins v. Aetna Health Inc., No. 23 Civ. 9470, 2024 WL1795488 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 25, 2024). Plaintiffs, including a neurosurgeon and his private practice, brought this action against Aetna, … Continued

A few Reproductive and/or Maternal Health Legal Highlights: On April 26, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Health and Human Services published in the Federal Register the Final Rule (Rule) regarding reproductive health privacy rights. The Rule is entitled “HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy;1 the effective … Continued

“Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhuman” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the National Convention of the Medical Committee on Human Rights, Chicago 1966 In its 2020 Call to Action, the American Heart Association declared that structural racism has been and remains a fundamental cause of … Continued

Introduction Despite great advancements in modern medicine, including obstetrics and gynecology, in the United States, the maternal mortality rates remain surprisingly high. The World Health Organization defines a pregnancy-related death as: “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days [(about 1.5 months)] of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the cause of death … Continued

I. Introduction to the Topic A physician employment contract is a detailed document that covers a physician’s compensation and expected duties and responsibilities to a prospective employer.1 It typically outlines the type of medicine to practice, the number of hours a physician is expected to work, availability, on-call hours, and outpatient care or administrative duties.2 For this … Continued

On November 13, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the release of proposed statewide hospital cybersecurity regulations that would require state-licensed hospitals to establish cybersecurity programs, policies and procedures (the “Proposed Regulations”).1 The Proposed Regulations feature requirements regarding cybersecurity policies and procedures, personnel, user authentication methods, security risk assessments, incident response plans, and two-hour reporting … Continued

New York State Department of Health Medicaid Decisions Compiled by Ron L. Oakes NewCo ALP, Inc. d/b/a Island Assisted Living (Decision After Hearing, December 11, 2023, John Harris Terepka, ALJ). Appellant operates an Assisted Living Program (ALP) in Hempstead, N.Y. The New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) audited appellant’s reimbursement from … Continued

Over the last four years there has been a 239% increase in significant hacking breaches in the health care industry.1 There was a 60% increase in the number of Americans impacted by breaches of their personal health information in 2023 alone.2 The cybersecurity firm Sophos recently found that globally, nearly two-thirds of health care organizations were victims … Continued