Practice Protection
Medical Malpractice/Professional Liability Defense
Regulatory and Administrative Defense
Credentialing/Privileges/Reporting Assistance
and Dispute Resolution
General Business Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Business Planning and Strategizing
On-Call Legal Support and Guidance
 Practice Protection
CBHLAW is dedicated to helping Florida healthcare providers and medical businesses avoid and resolve legal problems. We offer, and encourage our clients to consider, our preventative services (similar to preventative medicine) to help them maintain and secure their reputations and resources.
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 Practice Protection Checklist (sm)
One of CBHLAW'S preventative services is our exclusive Practice Protection Checklist℠. The Practice Protection Checklist℠ is equivalent to a doctor's comprehensive baseline physical exam. Its purpose is to identify areas of financial and/or regulatory vulnerability and/or potential legal liability to minimize the likelihood of civil and criminal penalties and/or financial damages to our clients and their business practices. We take the time to personally go over the checklist with our healthcare or business clients to identify the deficiencies and/or vulnerabilities and suggest remedies.
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Comprehensive Business Survey
In addition to the Practice Protection Checklist℠, we also offer our healthcare provider and medical business clients an initial survey and overview of the business side of their practices. This survey and overview may include review of existing business contracts, agreements, policies, procedures and legal or other documents which govern or address any of our client's business practices. After review of documents provided by the client, we offer suggestions of changes or remedies in order of priority.
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VIP|Concierge Attorney (sm)
CBHLAW'S preventive services, as well as all of our more traditional legal services, are available on an "a la carte" basis or as part of our exclusive comprehensive VIP|Concierge Attorney℠ service plan. VIP|Concierge Attorney℠ clients pay one flat rate per year for immediate and unlimited telephone access to legal guidance and on-going legal support (where the clock does not start to tick every time they pick up the phone). When these clients need more than legal guidance or support which can be delivered on the phone, VIP|Concierge Attorney℠ clients are provided those services at a discounted hourly rate.
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Education and Training
Although we vigorously defend our clients when necessary, our goal is to help prevent our clients from ever needing our litigation-related services. As the old expression goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
As a national speaker to businesses and healthcare organizations, we offer a range of seminars and in-service programs, many of which qualify for continuing medical education (CME) credit. Programs include:
- From Emergency Room to Courtroom: Recurring Issues
- See You in Court: If You Do Get Sued
- HIPAA, HITECH and other Privacy Legislation
- Credit/Debit Card Legislation Compliance
- Data Security and Management
All programs are tailored to meet our clients' specific objectives. |
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Medical Malpractice/Professional Liability Defense
We defend healthcare providers and insurers in medical malpractice and related claims.
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Our extensive litigation experience in the medical arena allows us to successfully navigate the unique issues attendant to each healthcare specialty in the most cost effective manner. Our grasp of the intricacies of state and federal healthcare legislation, including Florida's Medical Malpractice Act, federal and state EMTALA, and Good Samaritan Statutes, allows us to routinely save our clients' reputations and resources by resolving claims as early as possible by obtaining withdrawal of claims during pre-suit or winning dismissals shortly after suits are filed.
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Regulatory and Administrative Defense
We defend licensed healthcare professionals and entities in regulatory and administrative cases brought by the Department of Health's (DOH) Division of Medical Quality Assurance (MQA) and other regulatory and administrative agencies.
Disciplinary action taken by DOH may range from citations and fines to license revocation, and those penalties become a part of the public records.
Our goal at CBHLAW is to become involved as early as possible after notification of any complaint or investigation to effectively apply our skills and knowledge to protect our clients from potentially devastating outcomes to their practices and reputations.
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Credentialing/Privileges/Reporting Assistance
and Dispute Resolution
Medical Staff Credentialing and Privileges
Often appropriate credentialing and access to medical facilities are the keys to a successful practice. For this reason, the information included in the credentialing application, particularly relating to prior or current allegations or claims, must be worded with the utmost precision.
When potentially negative information exists which must be reported, our experience in this process allows us to support our clients in providing information which is both legally and factually correct, while maximizing the potential for the granting of credentials.
We also represent practitioners who have been denied privileges or whose privileges are in jeopardy.
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Licensure
At CBHLAW, we provide assistance in the application process and, when necessary, appear with our clients before the Credentials Committee to explain or defend information provided in the application. Because any denial of licensure must be reported in all future licensure and credentialing applications, as well as to any current facility where privileges have been granted, we strongly urge our clients to seek our counsel prior to and during the application process, to prevent potential damage which can threaten all licensure and privileges and destroy entire careers.
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Financial Responsibility
Florida healthcare practitioners are required to provide the Board of Medicine with information regarding their financial responsibility when applying for an initial license, upon license renewal or when there is a change in their financial responsibility status. Many hospitals also require proof of financial responsibility before issuing staff privileges or entering into contractual agreements with physicians and their affiliates.
We help our clients select the appropriate option to fulfill their financial responsibility and provide guidance when a client elects to "go bare". We also represent physicians who are audited by the Licensing and Auditing Services Unit and defend those who are alleged to have violated financial responsibility requirements.
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Reporting Requirements
There are numerous reporting requirements under state and federal law, some of which include:
- Adverse Medical Incident Reporting; and
- National Practitioner Data Bank Reporting
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Practitioner Profiling
Florida's legislature has mandated easy access to the public of certain licensure and disciplinary information of all licensed medical physicians and many other health practitioners who practice in the state. To carry out that mandate, DOH requires these physicians and practitioners to self-report information which ranges from basic biographical and educational background to legal and disciplinary action taken against the practitioners and certain settlements and judgments against them. Failure to self-report and/or timely update profile information may result in fines up to $100 per day from the date the information was required to be filed and constitutes grounds for disciplinary action.
We assist our clients in determining what information must be reported and craft the wording of the information to ensure that it is accurate, current, timely and consistent with other reported data. We also defend physicians and healthcare practioners who are being investigated or prosecuted for allegations of failure to report or inaccurate or untimely reporting.
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Adverse Medical Incident Reporting
We aid physicians and other medical licensees determine whether an event is required to be reported to DOH as an adverse medical incident and help draft or edit reports to ensure proper compliance. Because there is a time limitation on reporting adverse incidents, we recommend that our clients involve us as soon as there is a suspicion that a medical intervention has resulted in an adverse incident.
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National Practitioner Data Bank Reporting
We routinely complete the forms for insuring entities who have a duty to report certain settlements and judgments against medical practitioners, hospitals and companies, so that we can ensure that the allegations against our clients, as well as the settlements and judgments which trigger reporting, are portrayed both accurately and in context with all claims, allegations and/or recoveries against all healthcare providers involved in the claim. We also assist our clients in providing beneficial clarification to the NPDB when unflattering or inaccurate reports involving them have been prepared by others.
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General Business Litigation and Dispute Resolution
| We support clients through result-oriented and cost-efficient litigation, mediation, arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution as counsel in matters ranging from commercial disputes to sensitive internal administrative or regulatory investigations. |
We practice in state and federal trial and appellate courts, before administrative tribunals and regulatory commissions throughout the State of Florida. We have represented clients in matters including contractual and commercial disputes, business torts, civil fraud, insurance litigation, and as chair of creditors' committee in federal bankruptcy litigation. This varied experience provides us with the ability to support our clients in any complex or simple business litigation matter.
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Business Planning and Strategizing
For all of our clients, whether medical or business related, we regularly advise on pending business decisions, purchases, sales, investments, partnership agreements and disputes and all other matters relating to building and maintaining a successful business.
CBHLAW takes pride in uniting our clients with our network of professionals in other fields, in order to provide more comprehensive and thoughtful business and legal advice and protection.
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On-Call Legal Support and Guidance
Our office stands ready 24 hours a day to provide rapid-response legal support and guidance in any situation. We provide this support on an individual on-call basis or as part of the VIP|Concierge Attorney℠ service plan.
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