HEALTHCARE
The Healthcare and Risk Management Group at HPM&B has maintained a high level of knowledge of the changing healthcare delivery landscape. As federal and state healthcare reforms have shifted the focus from “volume” to “value” and have fundamentally altered the scope of providers’ relationships with patients, other providers, healthcare systems and payers, we are poised to advise on strategies to mitigate the risks inherent in the new delivery models, and facilitate successful engagement within the new models.
The rules and regulations affecting healthcare providers are increasingly complex. We understand how to adapt healthcare delivery systems and documentation in order to comply with the rules and regulations. We have successfully protected the interests of medical professionals when they have become targets of regulatory and investigatory proceedings. We recognize a growing need for high-quality legal representation in matters concerning physician investigation and licensure by governmental authorities and billing audits by medical and governmental insurance carriers. As healthcare technology continues to advance, so too does pharmaceutical and medical device research and regulation, making the industry’s governing laws and regulations complex and ever-changing.
Medical professionals also frequently retain our healthcare law attorneys to organize and incorporate their practices, and to prepare and negotiate vendor, payer and employment and partnership agreements on their behalf. Complemented by our experienced medical litigation attorneys, HPM&B’s Healthcare and Risk Management Group is well-equipped to understand and ardently protect our clients’ interests.
RISK MANAGEMENT
We offer on-call legal assistance to hospital administrators who are faced with day-to-day decisions that impact patient care and liability exposure at their facilities and provide risk management counseling, helping our clients develop strategies for avoiding adverse outcomes and lawsuits, and inculcating best practices in their workforces. We are regularly consulted by hospital department and quality managers and have lectured across the country to groups such as the Association of Hospital Risk Management, the Society of Medical Jurisprudence and the Hospital Financial Management Association.
We offer customized Litigation “Lessons Learned” plans, in order to capitalize on the safety and quality improvement opportunities we identify throughout the litigation process. As part of these plans, we work with healthcare professionals to design and implement pragmatic solutions which incorporate the ‘”Lessons Learned” into every day practice. We provide periodic monitoring of the practice solutions, in order to ensure sustainable and safe practice.
We conduct “Risk Practice” audits, including reviews of policies and procedures, to ensure compliance with rules and regulations, as well as compliance in actual practice. We also design customized clinical risk audits, based on an analysis of loss data and current practice. Our clinical risk audits identify real risk mitigation and safety improvement strategies. Where gaps exist, we work with healthcare providers to develop and implement corrective action plans. We also offer targeted Clinical Risk Education programs, designed to address top clinical risk issues, with practical improvement solutions designed to fit the healthcare providers’ workflow and EMR systems.
