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Legal

Legal

Medical record request

7 Legal Requirements for Patient Medical Record Requests

Your practice most certainly knows that when you get a medical record request, you must fulfill it, according to the HIPAA laws. What happens next is often different at every practice. Some practices give patients immediate access to their paper records, others wait almost a month, while some don’t even process the requests the same […]
Published Date: June 3, 2025
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Financial hardship

When Can You Offer Financial Hardship Discounts to Patients?

It happens from time to time at medical practices: Patients will say they can’t pay their copay due to financial hardship. But your practice knows that it’s a violation of your payer contract to write off copayments — so what can you do? Check out what the law says, and when you can and cannot […]
Published Date: April 13, 2025
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ICE raids

Medical Facilities No Longer Shielded From ICE Raids: How to Prep

Last month, the president ended the “sensitive location” protections that prevented ICE agents from conducting immigration raids in medical offices, clinics and other healthcare facilities. This means ICE raids may take place at your practice, and you need to be ready for how to handle them. Read on for strategies that will help you prepare […]
Published Date: February 18, 2025
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Telehealth consent

5 Telehealth Consent Best Practices to Stay Compliant

Telehealth consent can be a confusing area. While Medicare doesn’t come out and require it, the Department of Health and Human Services says that “specific informed consent laws vary by state,” but that it’s a good idea to take common sense actions to ensure you have the patient’s express approval before conducting a telehealth appointment. […]
Published Date: February 10, 2025
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Payer contract

3 Considerations You Must Make Before Dropping a Payer

Every payer contract your practice signs is a legal document that should not be taken lightly if you’re thinking of terminating it. But you should have a plan in place in case you’re ever in a position where a particular contract simply isn’t tenable for the long term. Check these three considerations every practice should […]
Published Date: December 30, 2024
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ADA accommodations

3 Key Types of Staff ADA Accommodations at Your Practice

Sometimes it seems like every time you get to know the existing employment laws, new ones are put into action that increase your legal liability as an employer. One such area involves ensuring that employees who are entitled to them get ADA accommodations. Check out three common types of ADA accommodations so you can stay […]
Published Date: December 16, 2024
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Patient recordings

5 Ways to Manage Risk When Patients Want to Record Visits

Patient recordings may happen at your practice for a variety of reasons. For instance, patients may be nervous they won’t remember care instructions, or they want to ensure their family members can hear all the details of a new diagnosis straight from the doctor’s mouth. Unfortunately, patient recordings can put your practice at compliance or […]
Published Date: October 22, 2024
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chatgpt

5 Considerations Before Using ChatGPT at Your Practice

Artificial intelligence is shifting into every aspect of our lives, and that probably includes your medical practice. Whether you’re using AI to transcribe dictation or to help you clean up grammar on correspondence, it can be a big help in a busy office. One AI-focused area that some practices haven’t yet warmed up to involves […]
Published Date: October 14, 2024
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Children’s medical records

How to Comply With Requests for Children’s Medical Records

If you get a request for medical records, it’s intimidating enough to evaluate whether you can release those documents compliantly — so if the request is for children’s medical records, it adds another layer of complexity to the situation. Discover how you should respond when someone sends you a request to release children’s medical records. […]
Published Date: September 30, 2024
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Emotional support animals

7 Tips for Creating Your Emotional Support Animal Policy

You’re likely familiar with the federal regulations about service animals, which are animals (typically dogs) trained to perform tasks to benefit a person with a disability. Emotional support animals, however, are not covered under the Americans With Disabilities Act, and aren’t specially trained to assist disabled people. In addition, they can be any type or […]
Published Date: June 25, 2024
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