Insights on Medical Staff Counseling & Peer Review

To address the COVID-19 national emergency, hospitals throughout the country are seeking to bolster their ranks of health care providers.

On March 16, 2020, the Joint Commission announced that it was suspending all regular surveying due to the COVID-19 national emergency, effective immediately. DNV GL Healthcare followed suit on March 19.

As the spread of COVID-19 accelerates across the United States, hospitals, health systems, and other providers face unique challenges. Arent Fox’s Health Care Group analyzes what you need to know about regulatory changes and guidance from the federal government.

In welcome news to most anyone who supervises, employs, credentials, or is a physician assistant, amendments to California Business and Professions Code Section 3500 et seq., effective January 1, 2020, significantly simplify the supervision requirements for PAs in California.

Natarajan addressed an important question: When may physicians who are the subject of a peer review hearing challenge the hearing officer in their cases on the ground that the hearing officer is biased?

In a decision very favorable to California hospitals and medical staffs, the Court of Appeal rejected a physician’s argument that he was denied due process during his peer review hearing because of hearing officer alleged bias.

Please join Arent Fox in San Francisco for our annual Medical Staff Leaders and the Law Conference. This full day conference is designed to equip your medical staff team with the most current skills, tools, and information to navigate challenging issues and provide effective leadership.

Please join Arent Fox in Costa Mesa for our ninth annual Medical Staff Leaders and the Law Conference. This full day conference is designed to equip your medical staff team with the most current skills, tools, and information to navigate challenging issues and provide effective leadership.

On July 22, 2019, the Supreme Court of California decided Wilson v. CNN, thereby answering an important, open question of law: Does Anti-SLAPP protection apply to retaliation and discrimination cases? The answer is yes.

California hospitals, medical staffs, and medical groups, take note: In addressing an issue that has been debated for years, the California Court of Appeal has concluded that a hospital’s directive to a group in a “closed” department to not schedule a practitioner due to competency issues constitute

Please join Arent Fox in Costa Mesa for our eighth annual Medical Staff Leaders and the Law Conference.

We are very pleased to announce that our Health Care attorneys will be hosting two Medical Staff Leaders and the Law Conferences in 2019.

Please join Arent Fox in San Francisco for our annual Medical Staff Leaders and the Law Conference.

Please join Arent Fox on Friday, February 3 from 7:00 AM – 5:00 PM Pacific for our annual Medical Staff Leaders and the Law Conference being held at the Avenue of the Arts Hotel in Costa Mesa. 

Earlier this month, the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) proposed significant changes to regulations affecting nurse practitioners (NP) practicing in the state.

As pay-for-performance programs continue to expand in both scale and scope across the US health care system, the amount of administrative and clinical resources necessary to participate in these programs has correspondingly grown.

Last week, Health Care partner Lowell C. Brown published an article in Bloomberg BNA’s Health Law Report that examines what hospital and medical staff leaders should do when a staff member is hospitalized with signs of impairment.

Arent Fox partner Lowell C. Brown, head of the firm’s Health Care practice, was quoted in a recent Bloomberg BNA article following a novel and groundbreaking decision by the New Mexico Supreme Court.

When the Bylaws specifically and directly speak, for example, in matters of credentialing criteria, peer review processes, and Medical Staff hearing procedures, the pronouncements are not viewed as suggestions or hints. Rather, the Medical Staff Bylaws set forth requirements.

For almost 30 years, hospitals and certain other health care organizations have been required to report to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) specified “adverse actions” regarding  physicians and dentists that they employ, contract with, or have on staff.

Partner Lowell Brown was quoted in Bloomberg BNA’s Health Law Reporter in connection with the recent El-Attar v. Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center decision.

Health Care Counsel Sarah Benator will present at the California Association Medical Staff Services (CAMSS) 48th Annual Education Forum.

Please join Arent Fox in San Francisco for our fifth annual Medical Staff Leaders and the Law Conference.