HIV Status Remains Confidential to Sisters, Brothers, Nieces and Nephews

Recently, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled that health care providers are not required to notify family members of a patient's HIV status. In Lemon V.

Fraud and Abuse Advice Now Available from the Feds - at a Price

Implementing changes to the Social Security Act, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (OIG) has issued regulations concerning the provision of adviso

Does "Current" Drug Use Mean Yesterday, Last Week or Last Month?

After a nurse was confronted by her hospital employer about the theft of narcotics, she admitted ordering excess medicine and diverting it for her own use.

Did You Know? Fall 1997

Assignment of Medicare Payments. Did you know that the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has announced that Medicare payments will no longer be made payable to emergency room sta

Physician Incentive Plans Under Siege

Physicians are, of course, expected to provideappropriate levels of patient care. However someargue that, under a fee-for-service paradigm,

New Law Makes It Harder to Deny Coverage for Preexisting Conditions

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) imposes certain new obligations on group health plans.

MDs, PPMCs and the SEC

Health care providers are long used to living with and talking in acronyms, from M.D. and Ph.D., to CT and EKG.

Maryland Regulatory News - Summer 1997

1. The Health Services Cost Review Commission's (HSCRC) 1997 Annual Disclosure Report revealed that Maryland's cost per hospital admission was about 3% below the U.S. average in FY 1996.

Grandfathering Period Ends for Maryland's Self-Referral Law

Maryland's self-referral law, enacted in 1993, generally prohibits health care practitioners from referring patients to entities in which they have an ownership interest, or with which they have a

Did You Know? - Summer 1997

Antitrust Settlement for Mental Health Networks.