April 14th Webinar Recording Available

April 14th Webinar Recording Available
COVID-19 Pandemic and Legislative and Regulatory
Changes: A Physician Practice’s Guide

On April 14th the Parker Poe team of Joy Hord, Tory Summey and Matt Wolfe, along with moderator Matt Johnson, NCMGMA Education Chair, helped health care providers, vendors, and other entities understand and adapt to their evolving obligations during this pandemic with the least amount of stress and uncertainty possible. We thank all of our webinar panelists and participants for being a part of this informative and essential educational session.

If you missed the webinar, you can view the recording at the link below.

Follow this link to view the webinar recording

Additional Webinar Resources

Also available is the webinar PowerPoint presentation (PDF)

April 14th Webinar on the COVID-19 Pandemic and Legislative and Regulatory Changes

COVID-19 Pandemic and Legislative and Regulatory Changes: A Physician Practice’s Guide

April 14 | 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered dramatic legislative and regulatory action and altered the way health care is being delivered. Combined, these effects of the pandemic have upended the status quo for health care providers across the country. As employers, health care providers are faced with unique challenges in this new landscape. As heavily regulated entities, providers need to navigate the rapidly changing landscape to ensure compliance.

The Parker Poe team is prepared to help health care providers, vendors, and other entities understand and adapt to their evolving obligations during this pandemic with the least amount of stress and uncertainty possible.

Webinar Topics

• CARES Act
  • Payment Protection Program
  • Employee Retention Tax Credit
  • Economic Impact Disaster Loans (Including Grant Advances)
  • Expansion of Accelerated and Advance Payment Program
  • Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund
• The Families First Coronavirus Response Act Update
  • FMLA Expansion Leave
  • Emergency Paid Sick Leave
  • The “Health Care Provider” Exception
• DOL Guidance on Wage Payment and Leave Issues
• Business Interruption Insurance Policies
• Telemedicine Expansion
• North Carolina Medicaid Policy Changes

Our Panelists

Joy Hord
Partner
Parker Poe
Joy Hord represents clients in the health care industry, focusing on regulatory and compliance matters. She also has significant experience representing health care professionals and organizations with business law, contract and transactional matters, such as mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures. Her clients include hospitals, physician groups, pharmacies, and other health care providers.

Tory Summey
Associate
Parker Poe
Tory Summey focuses on employment counseling and litigation for multi-state employers in various industries. He advises on issues related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Title VII, state wage and hour laws, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and employee benefits issues.

Matt Wolfe
Partner
Parker Poe
Matt Wolfe guides clients through the evolving legal and regulatory environment to meet their business needs and the needs of those they serve. Clients have relied on him to navigate federal and state health reform, Medicaid and Medicare changes, and a broad variety of health law and policy. He works proactively with clients to ensure compliance and minimize violations. Matt provides counsel to health care clients who are growing, exiting or otherwise adapting to the increasingly complex health care industry.

Matt Johnson (Moderator)
NCMGMA Education Chair
Chief Administrative Officer
Wake Internal Medicine Consultants (WIMC)
Matt Johnson has been in health care since 1994 and spearheaded the joint venture between a physician-owned corporation and a not-for-profit hospital before joining WIMC in 2014. With an unwavering dedication to the betterment of each physician, manager, and staff member, Matt has created the Employee Activity Council, has organized multiple food and school drives and has implemented Loyalty Grades throughout the 170-employee practice.

Registration

This webinar is complimentary for NCMGMA members and for non-members. Space is limited so make sure to register early! After you register, you will receive an emailed confirmation with webinar and phone-in instructions.

• Click here to register

Continuing education credit may be granted through your professional organization (MGMA, PAHCOM, AHIMA, etc.). Please self-submit for these organizations.

Questions

For questions or more information please contact the NCMGMA offices at info@ncmgm.org.

 

July 17th Webinar Presentation and Video Available to Members

Thank you to everyone who participated in our July 17th Lunch and Learn webinar, sponsored by Medical Mutual.  Patti Bartis, partner with the law firm Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, provided an informative presentation on “Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.”

If you missed the webinar or would like to revisit the information presented, please visit the NCMGMA website at www.ncmgm.org and click on the red “Member Login” button on the home page.  Once you are logged in, click on the “Members” menu item at the top of the page, and this will take you to the “Member Center.”  Once on the Member Center page, scroll down the page and the PowerPoint presentation (PDF) and MP4 video from the July 17th webinar will be the first items under the “NCMGMA Webinars” header.

If you have any difficulties accessing the files or logging into the members-only part of the website, please contact the NCMGMA offices at info@ncmgm.org.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Webinar on July 17th

NCMGMA-NCMSF July Lunch & Learn Webinar
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

July 17, 2018 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Sponsored by Medical Mutual

Program

Make plans to join us on July 17th for our Lunch & Learn Webinar “Sexual Harassment in the Workplace,” lead by Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein attorney Patti Bartis. This program will focus on sexual harassment and review how to address and prevent it in the workplace.

Speaker

Patti Bartis
Partner
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
Patti Bartis is an attorney in the Raleigh office of Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein. She has been practicing employment law for over 20 years. Patti and her firm represent medical practices of all varieties and sizes. Patti advises medical practices on compliance with employment laws and defends them in adversarial proceedings such as EEOC charges or lawsuits. She is a graduate of Bucknell University and the UNC School of Law.

Registration

This webinar is complimentary for NCMGMA members and $50 for non-members. Space is limited so make sure to register early! After you register, you will receive an emailed confirmation with webinar and phone-in instructions.

Continuing education credit may be granted through your professional organization (MGMA, PAHCOM, AHIMA, etc.). Please self-submit for these organizations.

Questions

For questions or more information please contact the NCMGMA offices at info@ncmgm.org.

NCMGMA-NCMSF Webinar: Employment Law on February 21st

February Webinar: Employment Law
Reviewing the significant employment law issues
facing medical practices today

February 21, 2017 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Program

The North Carolina Medical Society Foundation in cooperation with the North Carolina Medical Group Management Association, invites you to join us for a webinar reviewing the significant employment law issues facing medical practices today. Topics will include: an update on the status of new overtime regulations and other government action; handling substance abuse in the workplace; and the challenges presented by employees’ use of social media and personal electronic devices at work. Other subjects include ADA and FMLA compliance challenges, expanding protections for LGBT workers and independent contractor misclassification risks.

Speaker

Patti Bartis
Partner with Parker Poe, Raleigh Office
For more than 20 years, Patti Bartis has defended employers facing discrimination claims. She advises and handles cases on all aspects of employment law compliance arising under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and state wage and hour laws. She has extensive experience representing employers in the health care and life sciences industries. Ms. Bartis has defended cases in both state and federal court and before enforcement agencies. Her talents also include drafting, negotiating and litigating non-competition agreements.

Registration

This webinar is complimentary but space is limited so make sure to register early! After you register, you will receive an emailed confirmation with webinar and phone-in instructions.

Continuing education credit may be granted through your professional organization (MGMA, PAHCOM, AHIMA, etc.). Please self-submit for these organizations.

Questions

For questions or more information please contact the NC Medical Society offices at ncmsfoundation@ncmedsoc.org.

Physician Practices Beware: Scam Email Disguised as Communication from Office of Civil Rights

By Joy Hord, Parker Poe
Reprinted with permission from Parker Poe

Receiving an email that your practice has been identified for participating in the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Rules Audit Program is enough to raise anyone’s blood pressure. The likely response is to open the email immediately, determine the scope of the audit, and mobilize a team to prepare for the response.

Opening the email, however, may not direct the email recipient to information regarding a governmental HIPAA audit. Instead, some providers are finding that the link directs to a non-governmental company’s marketing efforts for a cybersecurity service. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Health and Human Services (the entity responsible for HIPAA audits and enforcement) has published alerts (available here) regarding the scam emails.

Although nothing in the most-recent alerts suggests that the current scam emails will result in a malware attack, covered entities and business associates must remain on guard regarding the potential risks of opening a communication that may appear to come from the OCR. Providers who have a question regarding whether an email is an official communication from OCR regarding a HIPAA audit may contact the OCR at OSOCRAudit@hhs.gov. Official communications from the OCR original from the same address.

Parker Poe has developed a number of tools to assist our clients to perform self-audits regarding compliance with the privacy, security and breach notification rules under HIPAA. We also advise clients routinely regarding responses to HIPAA audits. More information regarding our team can be found here.

About the Author
Joy Hord focuses her practice on regulatory and compliance matters specifically related to the health care industry. Her clients include hospitals, physicians, pharmacies and other health care providers. Ms. Hord also has significant experience representing health care professionals and organizations with business law and transactional issues, such as mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Ms. Hord leads Parker Poe’s Health Care Practice, which includes attorneys from the firm’s North Carolina and South Carolina offices.

Managed Care Narrow Networks

By Joy Hord, Parker Poe

2016 Alliance sponsor feature article by Parker Poe

Narrow networks (managed care provider networks that include a limited choice of participating healthcare providers and suppliers) have been widely criticized by consumers and consumer-rights groups, particularly in light of the number of narrow network products that are included in the ACA exchange marketplace. Use of narrow networks by self-insured businesses is also growing more prevalent. For consumers who have multiple options for insurance coverage, the question is often one of choice – am I willing to pay more in premiums in order to continue to see my existing doctor, go to the hospital of my choice, or have a wider range of options if I need to see a specialist?

From the doctor’s perspective, however, narrow networks are very confusing. In many cases, it is unclear why a particular doctor is, or is not, allowed to participate in the network. In some cases, only certain physicians are invited to participate in the network, leaving other physicians without knowledge that the plan even exists until a patient calls to find out why the physician does not participate.

While willingness by the physician or physician group to accept the reimbursement rates offered by the payor is one criterion for participation in the narrow network plans, other criteria come into place as well. An invitation to participate in a narrow network may be based upon the payor’s rating of the ability of the physician to offer quality of care and to provide care efficiency (a cost-based rating system). The tier and rating systems, however, are not consistent among payors and often criticized for producing inaccurate, irrelevant and unreliable results. Physicians also worry that there may be a loss of professional autonomy if physicians are pressured, in the course of providing care, to meet the tier and rating criteria developed by the payors in order to participate in the narrow networks rather than to exercise independent medical judgement.

A number of measures have been recently introduced to address consumer-driven concerns with narrow networks. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2017 (available here) proposes that states should be required to develop rules to test the adequacy of provider participants in payor networks. In addition, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has been working to update model legislation regarding plan network access and adequacy.

Finally, legislation regarding network adequacy has been adopted or proposed in a number of states. Typically, state laws incorporate rules regarding maximum travel distances for a patient to see a participating provider, maximum wait-times and/or acceptable provider-to-beneficiary ratios.