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In This Issue

OIG Approves Multiple Compensation Methods for Paying Physicians to Take Hospital Call
Few issues today in hospital-physician relations are more difficult and controversial than how to ensure adequate
physician on-call coverage for a hospital’s Emergency Department (ED).

The Evolving Privacy Frontier
Breaches of Unsecured PHI - In late August, the Department of Health and Human Services published its interim final rule governing breach notifications required under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), a component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

Disruptive Physicians
Just over a year ago, in July 2008, the Joint Commission (JC) issued two standards that address disruptive behavior, a leadership standard (LD.03.01.01) and a medical staff standard (formerly MS.4.00, now MS.06.01.03).

House Bill 1135 Adds Substantially to North Carolina’s Health Care Enforcement Arsenal
By enacting House Bill 1135 during its 2009 legislative session, the North Carolina General Assembly adopted a new State False Claims Act, which substantially expands the state’s arsenal for criminal and civil prosecution and recovery in health care and other cases.