You may not be familiar with a healthcare lawyer or what they do, but one industry everyone interacts with at one time or another is healthcare. When a person is sick or injured, they need medical attention and must rely on a hospital or healthcare facility to help.
With so much responsibility, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and other medical facilities need expert legal representation.
Healthcare can be a complicated area of law. Because of the amount of money spent on healthcare in the U.S., the entire industry can be very heavily regulated. To navigate these laws and policies, hospitals and facilities need to hire a healthcare attorney to represent their organization and provide their expertise.
What Does a Healthcare Lawyer Do?
Healthcare attorneys specialize in representing healthcare institutions like hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, labs, physician groups, medical staff, nursing homes, and more. They provide advice, write legal documentation, draft contracts, create policies, and represent the organization with investigations and litigation.
These lawyers have the responsibility of becoming experts in the law and advising healthcare facilities on how best to proceed and defend themselves against possible threats.
When You Should Hire a Healthcare Lawyer
Healthcare attorneys can help medical organizations navigate many issues. From internal conflicts to external risks, facilities can face many threats. Some areas facilities might seek assistance with can include:
· Complying with regulations, including the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law, or the False Claims Act.
· Creating contracts and company policies.
· Guiding government investigations.
More broadly, hospitals or facilities might seek the assistance of an attorney when dealing with regulatory compliance, accusations of fraud and abuse, and honoring patients’ rights.
· Regulatory compliance: Following regulatory compliance is essential to healthcare facilities. Many specific laws must be followed and many issues must be navigated. This requires an expert in the law to provide guidance and representation in areas related to license transfers, insurance, malpractice, tax obligations, and more.
· Accusations of fraud and abuse: Healthcare facilities can endure many accusations of healthcare fraud or abuse from patients and insurance companies. Because medical facilities rely on payments for services from insurance companies, it’s essential to have representation from a legal expert to ensure laws are followed and healthcare transactions can go through. If a patient accuses a facility of fraud or abuse, an organization must hire experienced representation to defend them against the accusations and help them build their case.
· Honor patients’ rights: Medical facilities must uphold patients’ rights when they are being treated. This can include ensuring doctors inform patients of their options and associated risks before treatment is administered, and making sure they have the patient’s consent to move forward. Facilities also must ensure patients’ medical records are kept private, and that doctors and medical staff are following all laws when treating patients. If these are violated, organizations need legal representation to defend them against the accusations.
Why Hire Us As Your Healthcare Lawyer
When you need a healthcare lawyer to resolve an issue with a patient, insurance company, or other organization, let the experts at Johnstone Adams LLC represent your hospital or facility.
In addition to regional and local hospitals, our healthcare clients include the largest not-for-profit healthcare provider in Alabama, physicians, long-term care facilities, mental healthcare facilities, healthcare systems and networks, rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies, and management services organizations.
Ranked in the 2022 U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” list regionally in 12 practice areas, we have experts in many areas of law to give our clients top-notch representation. In business for more than a century, our firm is able to mix its experience with the ability to evolve with the changing times.
To get started on your case, contact us using our online form, calling us at 844-682-7682, or emailing us at info@johnstoneadams.com.