Headshot of Mel Soliz

Mel Soliz Presents a Health Care Training Webinar on the Information Blocking Rule (IBR) for Health Care Providers

Health care providers are prohibited from engaging in information blocking under the new federal Information Blocking Rule (IBR). Coppersmith Brockelman’s Partner Mel Soliz explains IBR requirements for health care providers in her educational webinar for Health Care Training. Mel covered the IBR’s background, enforcement structure and important deadlines; highlighted practices that implicate the prohibition on information blocking; IBR exceptions with a special focus on preventing harm, privacy, security, and content and manner; and best practices for IBR compliance. Mel regularly speaks in local and national forums on these topics and has been active in state and federal policy making on these issues. She is the President of the Arizona Society of Healthcare Attorneys and is recognized by Best Lawyers© and Southwest Super Lawyers: Rising Stars© for her...

Read MoreRead More
Attorney Jill Chasson

Jill Chasson Explains That Piece-rate Workers Are Eligible for Overtime Pay

Piece-rate pay compensates workers a fixed amount for each item of work completed per day or week. Although there are advantages to piece-rate compensation, such as incentivizing workers to be more efficient and productive, employers that use this method must still comply with the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In her most recent HR Laws article, Jill Chasson recommends keeping an accurate record of daily and weekly hours worked so piece-rate pay can be supplemented if a worker exceeds 40 hours of work in a week. Jill highlighted an example of how costly failure to pay overtime can be. An Arizona construction company that did not pay overtime to its piece-rate workers or keep accurate time records was investigated...

Read MoreRead More
Kristen Rosati

Kristen Rosati Advocates for a Federal Standard for Health Data De-Identification

De-identified data is essential to research and innovation in health care. To ensure continued access to de-identified data, Kristen Rosati advocates for two goals in her guest commentary in Datavant’s newsletter Privacy Matters. First, Kristen explains the need for a federal prohibition on re-identification of individuals from de-identified datasets. This prohibition would act as an alternative to the current push for individual control of de-identified data, which would negatively impact the quality of and ability to conduct essential research. Second, the industry should push for using well-established HIPAA de-identification standards in evolving state laws. Having one consistent and well-crafted de-identification standard is crucial for research and other data collaborations. Kristen, a past President and Fellow of the American Health Law Association, is a nationally sought-after expert and...

Read MoreRead More
Kristen Rosati

Kristen Rosati Publishes Article on Strategies for Complying with Revised NIH Policies in Harvard Data Science Review

The National Institute of Health’s (NIH) revised Data Management and Sharing Policy requires a data sharing plan for all NIH-funded research, triggering compliance challenges amid quickly evolving federal, state, and international privacy standards.  In a special issue of Harvard Data Science Review, Kristen Rosati published an article on adopting strategies for long-term compliance in light of changing laws. In her article, Kristen recommended strategic, long-term data sharing solutions, including using HIPAA’s expert determination method to de-identify data to minimize potential future disconnects in data de-identification standards. Additionally, in light of concerns about whether de-identification of data is sufficient protection of privacy, and in the absence of a federal law prohibiting the re-identification of individuals in de-identified data sets, she recommends utilizing contractual controls on the use...

Read MoreRead More

Scott Bennett Educates Healthcare Risk Management Readers on Importance of Timely Access Request Responses for HIPAA Compliance

Following the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) report to Congress that revealed a 61% increase in HIPAA breaches affecting more than 500 people in 2020, Healthcare Risk Management turned to Scott Bennett for specific actions healthcare organizations should take to avoid complaints surrounding patient access and disclosure requests. Scott encouraged healthcare providers to continuously educate their personnel on the unique requirements and differences between the two types of requests and suggested supplying them with actionable guidance documents to use between trainings. Ensuring every access request is logged and receives a response within 30 days, as HIPAA mandates, will prevent OCR enforcement actions. Scott also recommended healthcare entities conduct a wide-scale security assessment that extends to every piece of hardware and software that touches electronic PHI. A leading...

Read MoreRead More
Karen Owens Reappointed to Arizona Society of Healthcare Attorneys Board of Directors

Karen Owens Outlines Key Arizona Peer Review Updates for AzSHA

For the first time since 2005, the Arizona Court of Appeals addressed substantive peer review issues in 2021. To help its members understand them better, the Arizona Society of Healthcare Attorneys (AzSHA) turned to Karen Owens to unpack the impact on the peer review process. Karen’s blog summarized key takeaways from Sharifi Takieh v. O’Meara (“Takieh”) and Sharifi v. Banner Health (“Sharifi”): Takieh affirmed the prohibition on discovery of peer review documents and made clear that hospitals cannot be required to prepare privilege logs in connection with claims of peer review confidentiality. Sharifi affirmed the prohibition on discovery of peer review documents and made clear that hospitals cannot be required to prepare privilege logs in connection with claims of peer review confidentiality. Although Sharifi is an...

Read MoreRead More