Health lawyers who represent physician practices must know how to keep their clients HIPAA-compliant as non-compliance has resulted in civil money penalties and fines as high as $16 million. In addition to this, attorneys who practice criminal, personal injury, medical malpractice, disability, and family law often need health information. Lawyers and law firms may also be business associates of their healthcare clients. As a result of the HITECH Act changes to HIPAA, business associates are now subject to the same criminal and civil liability as are healthcare practices and must, by law, follow the Security and Privacy Rules.

In this practical webinar, you will learn how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) affects lawyers and their paralegals who often perform tasks, such as drafting subpoenas, which now must be HIPAA-compliant when health information is sought.
Among other things, you will learn how to obtain Health-related information from clients and colleagues, as well as how to obtain it from adversaries who may not want to release health information, using HIPAA as a shield to prevent discovery. You will also explore key differences in noting when a healthcare practice is a business associate and when a personal injury firm is not.

Beyond this, the Security Rule portion of the webinar will provide health lawyers with the required knowledge to ensure their clients are compliant. The Privacy Rule portion will assist lawyers with ensuring the proper use and disclosure of health information and affording patients their HIPAA rights. Finally, you will receive detailed guidelines on how to effectively represent HIPAA clients who are the target of a Health and Human Services (HHS) investigation.

Areas Covered:-

• Describe and outline the basics of HIPAA and its Security and Privacy Rules.
• Watch for the civil and criminal penalties for violating HIPAA.
• Predict how HIPAA lawsuits may arise in federal and state courts.
• Ensure that your healthcare clients are compliant so as to avoid civil money penalties.
• Avoid areas of noncompliance that are most likely to result in a large civil money penalty.
• Determine whether or not your law firm is a business associate that must comply with HIPAA and respond accordingly.
• Subpoena health information in one of three ways.
• Represent a client who is the target of an HHS investigation.