Category: Liability
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Advocacy Efforts During COVID-19
The spread of COVID-19 has affected nearly all aspects of our daily lives. For the Medical Association’s efforts in protecting physicians and patients, this was also true. Nonetheless, between March 13 (when Gov. Ivey issued the COVID-19 state of emergency) and mid-May, our advocacy work continued in full-force. Executive Actions & Proposals Worked with various…
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COVID-19 State Liability Protection Bill to Be Filed
Alabama State Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) is preparing to file a bill today to provide liability protection to physicians, health facilities and businesses from claims arising from COVID-19 and the state’s response to the pandemic. “These are unprecedented times and the Legislature must take swift action to protect physicians and businesses from COVID-19 frivolous lawsuits,”…
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Rural Patients Wait Longest for EMS
WASHINGTON, DC – The average interval between a call to 911 and arrival on the scene of emergency medical services is seven minutes in the United States, but patients in rural areas wait as long as 30 minutes for help to arrive. How long is too long to wait for medical attention? The results of…
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What is the ProAssurance Legal Defense Endorsement?
As a ProAssurance insured, did you know that in addition to medical professional liability coverage your ProAssurance insurance policy also has embedded legal expense coverage for a variety of regulatory risk exposures, certain types of disciplinary proceedings, and other types of covered investigations? It’s called the Legal Defense Endorsement, and it is an automatic part…
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“WannaCry” Ransomware Holds True to its Name
This week, countries around the world faced an unprecedented cyber security attack. On May 12, 2017, the Critical Infrastructure Protection Lead for the Department of Health and Human Services Laura Wolfe first reported it as a “significant security issue.” Hours later, the Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team warned the public of a…
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Texting and Emailing in the World of HIPAA
If you experience anxiety every time you consider texting and/or emailing in your health care setting, you are not alone. On one hand, the world that we live in necessitates that information is communicated in a quick and easy manner. The ability to text or email staff and patients has become a high priority for…
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What is a Business Associate Agreement, and Why Should You Care?
Health care providers are primarily concerned with the treatment and wellbeing of their patients. They gather and maintain tremendous amounts of protected health information[1] (PHI) throughout the treatment process and commonly share that PHI with third parties who assist them with carrying out their work. This process of sharing PHI with a third party, non-workforce…
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Managing Your Practice: How to Lessen Your Risk of Workplace Violence
Editor’s Note: This issue was originally published in the 2016 Spring Issue of Alabama Medicine magazine. Going postal, unfortunately, is part of our pop-culture lexicon. This well-known phrase indicates the workplace isn’t as safe as we once thought. Hospitals and health care facilities were once considered safe havens from violent incidents. Unfortunately, the health care…
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ProAssurance: When Treated Fairly® is More than a Promise
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the 2016 Winter Issue of Alabama Medicine magazine. Choosing the right company for your professional liability insurance is one of the most important decisions you make as a physician. With multimillion dollar jury verdicts on the rise again – Alabama has seen eight in the last 36…