In Emerick v. Cardiac Study Center, Inc., P.S., the Washington court of appeals held a physician noncompete does not automatically violate public policy, and will be upheld when reasonable. The case involved a cardiology practice with four office locations in…
Read MoreA recent article in The Washington Post highlighted that Yelp is adding government information on hospitals, nursing homes and dialysis clinics to its popular review site. Patients can now look up an emergency room’s average wait time, fines paid by…
Read MoreMost physicians probably recognize that a hospital must report certain professional review actions adversely affecting a physician’s clinical privileges to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), which can have serious career consequences for a physician. Physicians may not, however, realize…
Read MoreIn Fergen v. Sestero, Washington’s Supreme Court recently handed an important victory to physicians defending medical malpractice actions. The ruling involved the exercise of judgment instruction, which reminds juries that if a physician exercises the reasonable care and skill generally…
Read MoreOn March 26, 2013, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a new Special Fraud Alert regarding physician-owned entities. Physician ownership or investment in entities that derive revenue from selling or arranging for the sale of medical devices, supplies or…
Read MoreOn February 13, 2012, CMS finally issued a set of proposed regulations for compliance with the "60-Day Refund Rule". The proposed rule is published at 77 Fed. Reg. 9179 (February 16, 2012). Buried in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable…
Read MoreThe Washington State Supreme Court issued its unanimous opinion in Overlake Hospital Association v. Swedish Health Services. This ruling settles a long-running debate in the Washington medical community about how the Washington State Department of Health applies its Certificate of…
Read MoreThe Washington Supreme Court recently handed down a unanimous decision in favor of the legal arguments advocated in my, amicus curie brief submitted on behalf of the American Medical Association, the Washington State Medical Association, and approximately twenty other medical…
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