Lawyers For Radiology Providers & IDTFs

In today’s world, healthcare professionals face numerous challenges when it comes to providing high levels of care to their patients. Yet despite their best efforts, there are times when even those best efforts may not be enough. When this happens, lawsuits may follow and the healthcare providers may need legal representation to deal with these complex situations. This can happen with radiology providers and independent diagnostic testing facilities, which during the course of a year may perform thousands of procedures on patients in varying degrees of health. When situations develop that require these providers to have legal representation, the firm they turn to most often is Potashnik and Associates.

Diagnostic Imaging Legal Issues

What many people fail to realize is that radiology providers and diagnostic testing facilities face many legal issues on a daily basis. Some of the most common include:
–HIPAA compliance
–Patient notification requirements
–Medicare enrollment requirements
–Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute
–Contractual and Transactional arrangements
Because fraud and abuse has become so widespread in many areas of business, including healthcare, our firm has many years of experience in providing clients with legal counsel on these and many other issues.

Stark Law

Of all the issues we assist our clients with, the Stark Law is one of the most complex and most important. Based on physician self-referral prohibition, which is an extremely complex set of regulations, the Stark Law prohibits physicians from referring DHS that is payable by Medicare or Medicaid to any entity in which the physician has a financial relationship. Because the law is so complex, our firm works closely with radiology providers and diagnostic testing facilities to analyze whether the law applies to any of their existing relationships. If they have any questions and inadvertently violate the law, the consequences can be severe. Penalties can include payments being denied or refunded, a $15,000 penalty per service rendered and a $100,000 penalty for any arrangement considered to be a circumvention scheme.

HIPAA Compliance

Because health care providers of all types handle large volumes of medical records and confidential patient information daily, compliance with HIPAA as well as state privacy laws is extremely important. Due to the HIPAA rules being so complex and ever-changing, it’s important for healthcare providers to maintain legal counsel that can advise them on situations that may put them at risk of inadvertently violating HIPAA rules. Here at Potashnik and Associates, we have been working with clients for years when it comes to HIPAA compliance. Not only have we advised clients, but we have also written numerous articles on the topic as well as given speeches to many prestigious medical groups and organizations across the United States on how to interpret and implement complex HIPAA regulations. Rather than sit back and wonder if your practice has violated this important law, it’s best to contact us and let us discuss the situation with you at your convenience.

Experienced and Knowledgeable

With more than 25 years of experience providing healthcare providers and facilities with legal advice, we at Potashnik and Associates know and understand what it takes to win complex medical cases. When we are retained as your counsel, you are guaranteed to be working with lawyers who are constantly educating themselves on the latest issues regarding compliance in a variety of healthcare areas. We stay on top of the legal issues that will be impacting healthcare the most, and strive to provide the best possible service to our clients.

Business Planning and Structure

While most people think of healthcare facilities as strictly places that provide valuable and potentially life-saving services, the fact is they are also businesses that must be concerned not only with making a profit, but also with following complex corporate guidelines. We understand this, and can offer our years of experience to make sure healthcare entrepreneurs are in compliance with all necessary rules and regulations that pertain to their situation. While entrepreneurs may have many innovative ideas for their facilities, it’s important that those ideas meet the necessary rules for doing business. Our firm can ensure they do just that by conducting risk assessments and determinations as to whether the business models of the practice are feasible. Some of the issues we examine prior to offering a final opinion include:
–State and federal licensing regulations
–Corporate medical practice issues
–Liability issues
–Business Associate relationships
In many medical facilities, it is the business relationships providers have with one another that may ultimately spell success or failure for the practice. Whether it is contracts for employment relationships, independent contractor relationships, equipment leases, professional service agreements, or other business agreements, these can be the key to ensuring all goes well and no room is left for disputes to develop. By utilizing the services here at Potashnik and Associates, we can draft contractual agreements and other important information that can ensure regulatory compliance as well as other business regulations being met and maintained.

Credentials and Licensure

In order to make sure radiology providers and independent diagnostic testing facilities have no licensure or credentialing issues, we work closely with our clients to address matters in many unique situations. By using a combination of creative, non-adversarial methods to defuse potentially complex issues that could spiral out of control, we can settle matters in ways that result in as little damage as possible to our clients. We realize that a healthcare provider relies on their reputation in order to achieve success as well as gain and keep the trust of their patients, so we do everything possible to make sure that trust is never lost. When a patient complaint may surface, it’s important for any healthcare provider to maintain legal counsel from the very beginning. While some investigations may end quickly if the complaint is found to have no merit, others can drag out for months depending upon the circumstances. No matter how large or small the complaint may be, it’s always a good idea for any licensed healthcare professional to have an attorney present when speaking with investigators. By doing so, they can have access to legal advice if needed as well as have a witness to the questioning if problems begin to surface.

Contact Us Today

As a healthcare professional, you have worked many years to gain licensure as well as develop a business plan for your practice. Therefore, it’s important to maintain trusted legal counsel to ensure complex rules and regulations are met and that no opportunities to question licensing or other matters present themselves. But if and when problems do arise, that is why we here at Potashnik and Associates are here to assist you. Visit us online at www.healthcarelawassociates.com to fill out the contact form on our website, or give us a call at 1-212-577-6677. We will sit down with you and discuss your situation thoroughly, answering all of your questions as best we can. We understand that when a legal problem presents itself, you and your business have much on the line to lose. We strive hard not to let that happen, and will use our experience, knowledge, and determination to make sure our clients get the results they need. If you find yourself needing legal advice, contact us today.