Posts by:
As Managing Director of Purview, Les Trachtman drives Purview’s shared mission to improve medical outcomes and access to quality medical expertise for millions of people, regardless of geography. Les is a seasoned entrepreneur, educator, and author with over four decades of experience in strategy, consulting, and start-ups. Les is also an adjunct instructor at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, where he shares his years of experience and insights with the next generation of business leaders. He is a frequent guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, MIT and other academic institutions, as well as a board member of The Metro Group. Les is also known as the author of the Amazon bestseller "Don't F**K It Up, How Founders and Their Successors Can Avoid the Cliches that Inhibit Growth", and a blogger on founder succession and other topics. He is passionate about sailing, traveling, and challenging the status quo.
Hospitals and their specialist providers often raise the question: “When does a patient become ‘my patient,’” when seeking to provide medical services remotely, where the patient is in a geography that doesn’t fall within their current licensure. While this may seem like a simple question, its complexity can be determinative of a potentially complex legal issue.
Litigators involved in medical malpractice, personal injury, workers compensation, elder care law and other related medical fields, are realizing that medical images hold a trove of information that if used correctly, can make all the difference in their case. Often lawyers take the easier path by using "pictures" of medical images – jpg files – rather than the DICOM images themselves. This may be sufficient for a simple case. But a more complex case requires the richer, more complex and more difficult to view, store and share DICOM formatted file.
Attorneys who handle the sensitive private health information (PHI) of their clients are responsible for the confidentiality and safekeeping of their client’s medical records. For lawyers engaged in litigation involving healthcare matters, understanding and adhering to requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)[1] is not just a regulatory requirement but a crucial aspect of protecting the privacy and confidentiality of individuals' health data as well as safeguarding of the firm’s reputation.
The following is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. The information provided in this post is not a substitute for professional legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Readers should always consult with a licensed attorney or qualified legal professional for advice on specific legal issues. The author of this post and any entities associated with the author are not responsible for any actions or decisions taken by readers based on the information provided in this paper.
"If I have a physician or contract with a team of physicians licensed in every state,
does that make my remote second opinions issued anywhere legal?"
This question inevitably comes up. On its surface, you might expect that this encompassing licensure paves the way for your organization to issue remote second opinions anywhere in the country. However, a close reading of the law of each state contradicts that premise.
In order to provide a remote second opinion, a physician that is not licensed in the state in which the patient is physically located (ostensibly, one of your specialists), must either rely on an exception or exemption from that state’s licensure laws and regulations in order to legally deliver that opinion. Having another physician, not the one rendering the opinion, who is licensed in the target state, may actually not provide you with sufficient legal stature.
Healthcare industry finances are still rocky post-pandemic. Many smaller practices are feeling the pressure to cut back on expenses. Independent practices struggle with decreasing reimbursement rates. There is a tremendous cost burden to keep up with regulatory pressure. Malpractice insurance premiums continue to rise. To top it off, technology and equipment infrastructure costs are expansive.
