10 Dec, 2014

Black box to be used to record surgery?

2018-04-23T23:57:55-05:00December 10th, 2014|Health Care Law, HIPAA, Litigation Tips, Medical Malpractice, Midwest Medical Legal Advisor, Nebraska Hospital-Medical Liability Act, Risk Management|

Surgeons: how would you like every move of the surgeries you perform recorded with a “black box” type device?  Such a device would make a record of every movement during a surgery, and potentially, provide real-time feedback to identify mistakes.  Not only would it record the surgery itself, it could record every word uttered by the medical team during a surgery. The potential and hopeful benefits include improved results and reduced [...]

8 Jul, 2014

Florida throws out caps in med mal cases

2018-04-23T23:57:55-05:00July 8th, 2014|Health Care Law, Litigation Tips, Medical Malpractice, Midwest Medical Legal Advisor, Nebraska Hospital-Medical Liability Act, Tort Reform|

It's time for my somewhat regular update regarding the latest state to address the constitutionality of caps on damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.  Previously, I have discussed Kansas and Missouri and their judicial treatment of such caps. In its recent decision, the Florida Supreme Court threw out the state's statutory cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases as violating the Equal Protection Clause of Florida's Constitution.  In a blistering [...]

25 Jun, 2013

The Impact of Unnecessary Surgery

2018-04-23T23:57:56-05:00June 25th, 2013|Health Care Law, Litigation Tips, Medical Malpractice, Midwest Medical Legal Advisor, Nebraska Hospital-Medical Liability Act, Risk Management, Tort Reform|

A recent article in USA Today posits that doctors perform thousands of unnecessary surgeries every year.  It claims that unnecessary surgeries might account for 10% to 20% of all operations in some specialties, including a wide range of cardiac procedures.  It generally cites three reasons as the cause of the problem: - doctors who enrich themselves by bilking insurers for operations that are not medically justified; - doctors who simply lack the competence [...]

24 May, 2013

Omaha and Lincoln area hospitals shorted $1 million

2018-04-23T23:57:56-05:00May 24th, 2013|Health Care Law, Midwest Medical Legal Advisor, Nebraska Hospital-Medical Liability Act|

In an interesting article this morning in the Omaha World Herald, it reports that nine Omaha and Lincoln area hospitals had approximately $1 million in Medicare payments withheld due to the number of patients returning to the hospitals within a month of being released. Medicare has recently targeted these types of readmissions, which cost roughly $17 billion dollars a year.  The government is penalizing hospitals with high readmission rates within [...]

15 Feb, 2013

High-low Agreements in the Medical Malpractice Context

2018-04-23T23:57:57-05:00February 15th, 2013|Litigation Tips, Medical Malpractice, Midwest Medical Legal Advisor, Nebraska Hospital-Medical Liability Act, Risk Management|

In negotiating a high-low agreement in the medical malpractice context, there are any number of issues to consider, including whether a settlement pursuant to such an agreement is reportable to the National Practitioner Data Bank (“NPDB”), whether to waive post-trial motions and the right to appeal, how to deal with comparative fault, taxation of costs, and a hung jury. Generally speaking, a high-low agreement is a contract used to limit [...]

25 Jan, 2013

Surcharge Under Nebraska Hospital-Medical Liability Act Continues to Decline

2018-04-24T00:10:07-05:00January 25th, 2013|Health Care Law, Midwest Medical Legal Advisor, Nebraska Hospital-Medical Liability Act|

The Nebraska Excess Liability Fund provides excess coverage for medical malpractice claims against qualified health care providers in Nebraska.  The provider is responsible for the first $500,000 in coverage, and the Excess Fund provides coverage from $500,000 up to the maximum amount recoverable of $1,750,000.  The Excess Fund is paid for by a surcharge levied on qualified health care providers.  The surcharge is expressed as a percentage of the premium charged for [...]

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