Blog

Under a recent settlement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Affinity Health Plan, Inc., settled potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules for $1,215,780. HHS-OCR’s investigation revealed that Affinity impermissibly disclosed (without consent) the protected health information of up to 344,579 individuals when it returned multiple photocopiers to a Read more →

The Firm has secured the reinstatement of the billing number for a provider that was revoked by Medicare for the last year. Through a combination of appeals and direct interaction with Medicare officials, Medicare agreed to reverse the revocation, finding that the provider had made a good faith effort to comply. The provider was revoked Read more →

Through an aggressive appeal effort, attorney Erin Bengele secured a substantial reduction in a private insurance overpayment demand for a pharmacy client of the Firm. Ms. Bengele prepared a detailed claim-by-claim rebuttal of the purported basis for denial, ultimately reducing the overpayment by two-thirds. Among other things, Ms. Bengele pointed out factual errors by the Read more →

On December 26th, 2013, HHS-OCR announced a $150,000 dollar settlement with Adult & Pediatric Dermatology, P.C.(APDerm), a Concord, Massachusetts-based private practice for alleged HIPAA violations discovered during an HHS-OCR investigation following a reported breach. As background, on October 7th, 2011,APDerm notified HHS that an unencrypted USB memory drive containing protected health information (PHI) had been Read more →

The State Attorney’s Office has abandoned all charges against a physician client represented by Nicholson & Eastin, LLP. The physician had been charged with drug trafficking, operating a pain clinic without a license, and receiving drugs without the required pedigree documents. The family practice physician was facing a 25-year minimum mandatory sentence if convicted. Mr. Read more →