Posted on Fri, Sep 03, 2010
The best time of the year has finally arrived…FOOTBALL SEASON! After all the off-season speculation and predictions, we are now ready for kickoff. This is a season of great food and drinks, cool weather, and fellowship with friends and family, all crowded around watching what we believe is the best sport in American history. I don’t know about you, but the Plico Financial Team is pretty excited about the kickoff of the Oklahoma teams tomorrow evening. As previously announced, we will be celebrating in style by throwing the biggest and best tailgate in Norman! Please join us for some delicious Iguana Grill Mexican Food provided by Legacy Bank, a variety of tasty drinks, and enjoy watching the game on some extra large big screens provided by Onyx!
We'll be set up with the pre-game, food, and drinks at 4:00 at the corner of Jenkins and Stinson. See our invitation for more information.
Matthew J. Moore
photo credit: sundance kid
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.
Posted on Wed, Sep 01, 2010
Recently, I came across an invitation to a webcast that struck me as both interesting and very timely. We have all been witnesses to the rising chatter about distracted driving, and a primary source of such distraction is our passengers.
The question is this: "How does the liability exposure from such distraction effect a business, even one in the business of health?"
Analyzing several case studies, this webcast will help identify liability exposures from this type of distracted driving.
I invite you to register for this workshop, which will be held noon (CDT) on Tuesday, September 14.
Jack McMahan
photo credit: tomhe
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.
Posted on Mon, Aug 30, 2010
Over the weekend, PFI was at the OSA's annual meeting in Dallas, where we had a registration for an iPad. We are so very appreciative for everyone's time who participated, and we enjoyed visiting with you all. That said, I would like to congratulate our winner, Dr. Chris Emerson!
Matthew J. Moore
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.
Posted on Fri, Aug 27, 2010
As a reminder for the PFI Tailgate beginning next weekend, I thought I'd share a couple of my simple yet crowd pleasing tailgate recipes: Grilled Chicken Poppers and Jalapeño Poppers.
Grilled Chicken Poppers
Ingredients:
Chicken breasts sliced in small 1 -1/2 inch pieces.
Grill Mates Mesquite Marinate
Can of green pickled jalapeno peppers
Bacon
Toothpicks
Marinate the chicken beasts, following the direction on the package. Cut a slice of bacon into three pieces. Wrap bacon around the slice of chicken and a jalapeno slice. Secure with toothpick. Grill until done.
Jalapeno Poppers on Skewers
Ingredients
Fresh whole Jalapenos
½ cup grated pepper jack cheese
Fresh Cilantro – chopped
Bacon
Wooden skewers – soaked in water
Toothpicks
Slice off the top of jalapeno and save. Remove the seeds. Mix the grated cheese with the chopped cilantro. Fill the jalapeno with the cheese mixture and put the top of the jalapeno back on. Insert the wooden skewer thru the entire jalapeno length-wise. Wrap the jalapeno with bacon and secure with a toothpick. Grill until done.
Remember that we'll be at the courtyard in front of St. Thomas More two hours before kickoff every home game. Even better than my above recipe, you'll notice when you arrive next weekend that Iguana Grill is cooking our tailgate food, so bring your appetite! For more information, see our invitation.
Blair Eischeid
photo credit: kaylacasey
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.
Posted on Fri, Aug 20, 2010
September is approaching. We’ve all been smelling the distinct scent of steaks on the grill for the past few months, and the minds of many of us are quickly wandering towards the thoughts of what dominates so much of what we love about the state of Oklahoma: college football.
It is the rivalry, the friendly banter, the anticipation that defines so much of the upcoming months, but what we all really love about this season is the excuse for friends and family to get together, sharing laughs, food, and building memories together.
As a way of thanking Oklahoma’s physicians, PFI is sponsoring a tailgate at all OU home games this year. This will be, however, no ordinary tailgate.
Onyx Theaters, Oklahoma’s THX certified luxury theater expert, has custom made a trailer for our space that will have theater video and sound, including three big screen tvs for us to watch all of the game and pre-game action.
Iguana Grill will be brought in by our partner for the first three games, Legacy Bank, to cook their famous Mexican fare for us as we enjoy football, family and friends.
As you can see, you won’t even need a ticket to the game to enjoy all of the action in a collegiate game-day environment with the best food and theater quality sound and video already taken care of for you.
We’ll have plenty of space and shade, located at the courtyard in front of St. Thomas More at 100 East Stinson, at the corner of Stinson and Jenkins, just south of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. So get ready for THE BEST SEASON EVER and join us as we celebrate family, friends, good food, and great football.
We look forward to seeing you there!
You may view the invitation with a map here.
Matthew J. Moore
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Copyright © 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Source: Attribution goes here
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.
Posted on Tue, Aug 03, 2010
As PFI continues its mission in providing risk solutions and enhancements to your practice, we would like to make you aware of an upcoming Healthcare Conference in October:
Successfully Navigating Healthcare Reform: Learn How To Increase Medical Practice Revenues During Healthcare Reform
Physician Solutions
The 2010 Healthcare Conference presents the PCI STEP Plan as a tangible solution to the continued trend of declining reimbursements and increased costs. Through the PCI STEP Plan learn how to:
- Meet the revenue challenges of healthcare reform head on with cutting edge, evidence based, ancillary services and business growth strategies presented at the conference
- Walk away with the ability to achieve improved patient outcomes and increased net revenues.
Keynote Speaker
Mr. Gerry Sikorski was a State Senator for six years, a congressman for 10 years, and sat on committees addressing health, insurance,, and welfare. Currently Mr. Sikorski is a partner in one of the most prestigious law firms in the country, Holland and Knight. He is the Health and Government Section Leader with over 85 lawyers who have extensive experience with the Healthcare Plan. Mr. Sikorski will deliver a message on how the plan will affect physicians and their practice.
Please visit www.2010healthcareconference.com for more information.
You may also download the conference brochure.
Scott Fikes
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Copyright © 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Support
Source: Attribution goes here
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.
Posted on Thu, Jul 22, 2010
The following was written by Sylvia Hsiegh of The Journal Record. We found it very pertinent to our readers and would love to know your thoughts after reading it. You can find the original article in The Journal Record.
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BOSTON – Lawyers can expect to be busy in the coming year reviewing and revising contracts of health care entities and related businesses in light of new proposed HIPAA rules.
The rules spell out the new HIPAA obligations that Congress included in the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act, which passed in February 2009.
Most of the rules were expected, explaining how covered entities must update their privacy notices and detailing how penalties will be assessed for privacy breaches.
One surprise in the rules was the scope of the business associate rule, which extended beyond what lawyers expected.
That rule makes clear that the requirements under HIPAA – the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act – that already apply to business associates of health care providers, such as medical data contractors, auditors and law firms that represent providers, now also apply to subcontractors of those business associates.
“The requirements that previously applied to covered entities, such as health care providers, under HIPAA now apply in full force to business associates and subcontractors,” said David Harlow, an attorney in Newton, Mass., and principal of The Harlow Group, who blogs about health care law.
Business associates and their subcontractors must not only comply with privacy and data breach rules but, like covered entities, are exposed to the full panoply of HIPAA penalties, which can reach as high as $1.5 million per year.
“It covers a whole lot of different businesses that didn’t previously think they were covered. It could expand (HIPAA) exponentially,” said Amy Fehn, an attorney at Wachler & Associates in Royal Oak, Mich., who represents health care providers.
Penalties clarified
The rules, proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, are a warning to the many health care providers that still don’t have policies or have inadequate procedures for HIPAA compliance.
Changes in the language since the interim rules were released in November 2009 take away some of the discretion the Office of Civil Rights suggested it would use in enforcing them.
“When the rules first came out, it was the attitude of the Office of Civil Rights that they would work with providers and there was a more educational sense to it,” said Fehn. “Now they have less discretion and have changed some language (indicating) they are more likely to impose penalties.”
Typical errors in HIPAA policies include not fully addressing authorization requirements, such as failing to specify the reason for disclosing protected health information or the person to whom it will be disclosed, Fehn added.
Lawyers said the rules contain many helpful examples of how penalties will be assessed, but the main takeaway is that providers with policies in place are less likely to be harshly penalized.
“If you have compliance procedures in place and at least are making a good-faith effort, but for some reason something goes wrong – like maybe an employee didn’t do what he was supposed to do – that would fall within ‘reasonable cause,’ a lower penalty,” said Fehn.
The penalties for privacy breaches are tiered based on “reasonableness” and “willfulness.”
Contract reviews,
revisions galore
The rules should provide plenty of work for health care lawyers in reviewing and revising contracts between covered entities, business associates and subcontractors.
It’s now clear that agreements between covered entities and business associates must be updated to cover the new HITECH requirements.
The rules give providers who already have a business associate agreement 240 days from the date of a final rule to make the changes, and even those without an agreement have six months from the final rule’s effective date to include HITECH provisions in the agreement.
“It benefits covered entities to get an agreement before the final rule,” said Fehn.
A final rule is expected by this fall.
Covered entities should also consider going further than the contract and make sure their business associates have HITECH policies and procedures in place.
“In the past simply having an agreement in place with a business associate was enough. Now it’s incumbent on covered entities to engage in auditing business associates for their policies and operations. The alternative is potential exposure to significant liability,” said Harlow.
He added that the statute allows state attorneys general to sue for civil damages on behalf of individuals whose privacy is breached.
Even though business associates are independently liable, a breach of protected health information by a business associate is imputed to the covered entity under breach notification requirements. The covered entity has 60 days to report a breach from the time a business associate discovers the breach, even if the business associate doesn’t act.
One contract revision would be to include an indemnity provision in such a case.
“To the extent a covered entity is liable for a business associate dropping the ball, the covered entity would want to cover the cost,” said Elizabeth Litten, a partner at Fox Rothschild in Princeton, N.J.
Another contract provision might cover which party is responsible for determining if a breach has occurred.
The statute allows an exception to breach notification requirements if the breach carries no risk of harm.
“In some instances, the covered entity wants to make that determination even if the potential breach was made by the business associate. Other (contracts) might ask the business associate to decide and take full responsibility. I’ve seen it go both ways,” said Litten.
The fact that the rules now clarify that subcontractors of business associates are essentially treated as business associates themselves means that contracts between business associates and the companies they contract with must also be reviewed.
“Anything that would be in the business associate agreement or anything where there is a direct obligation pursuant to HITECH is now pertinent to subcontractors,” said Litten.
Law firms too
Law firms that represent health care providers and handle protected health information fall under the definition of business associates.
As a result, law firms will have to review their contracts with subcontractors and make sure subcontractors have their own policies in place.
For example, if a law firm that represents a health care provider and handles protected health information hires consultants, accountants or data analysts, those agreements should be reviewed. Also, the law firm should make sure the subcontractor’s HIPAA policies are up to snuff.
This is even true for subcontractors that do not realize they may be handling protected health information, such as a third party, that a law firm hires to clean its data drive.
“If I’m a law firm acting as a business associate, I want to acknowledge downstream protection. This really expands the range of possibilities of the scope of companies that will be subject to the HITECH obligations and its penalties,” said Litten.
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Matthew J. Moore
photo credit: lambdachialpha
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.
Posted on Fri, Jul 16, 2010
A couple of days ago, a colleague and I were discussing the on-again off-again Medicare cuts for about the hundredth time. We were lamenting our lot in life as physicians, tossed about like autumn leaves in a hurricane with no ability to control our destinies. Our conversation has essentially remained unchanged for the last several years which raised the question: “Are we becoming Pavlov’s Docs?"
Think about it for just one minute. Every year Medicare plans to cut our pay to the wailing and gnashing of teeth by physicians. At the very last minute, Congress saves the day by averting the cut, and we are all relieved. We are so thankful that Medicare (and therefore, every other insurer who bases their rates on a percentage of Medicare) gave us yet another reprieve.
Due to all this wrangling, physician salaries have, on average, increased only 1 percent over the last 10 years. We are so far behind the escalating cost of living that we won’t ever catch up. At first I thought that “those senators and congressmen” have no idea what they’re doing to healthcare. Now I wonder if they aren’t the smartest business people in America. We continue to work harder and harder for a one percent raise in the last 10 years! If I were in any other business, I would have quit a long time ago.
I actually called our senator, Dr. Tom Coburn, a couple of years ago and asked that he not stop the Medicare cut which was around 20 percent. My rational was that only a cut of historic magnitude would push physicians to actually do something. We have been likened to trying to herd cats, which is a pretty apt description. Alas my request fell on deaf ears and we were “saved” again.
My colleague commented about how we have become so accustomed to the cuts that now we are becoming less and less surprised, and also, less and less likely to call our senators and congressmen to complain.
With less "ballyhoo," maybe next time the cut won’t be averted. I’m not sure if any of this is intentional by our trusted legislators, but I for one can feel something rise in my throat every time the Medicare bell rings, and it feels more like bile than saliva.
Dr. Jeff Scott
CEO, The Physician's Agency
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.
Posted on Thu, Jul 08, 2010
A few weeks ago, I read a great article discussing using life insurance positioned in an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) as an alternative to a roth conversion. While there is great variance between different types of life insurance contracts, there are many that work well with this concept - a few spectacularly well.
Below is a chart demonstrating comparative results. I encourage you to read the article and ask us if and how this might be advantageous to you.
Matthew J. Moore
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.
Posted on Thu, Jul 01, 2010
Recently, we at PFI read through some responses regarding Risk Management and One in a Million Disasters. The question posed was why companies and governments so poorly manage rare yet catastrophic events. The obvious example today would be BP and the gulf oil spill. Many of the responses involved unwillingness to plan, short-term focuses, and the absence of a leader solely focused on risk management. We encourage you to read these thoughts and share with us your own. At PFI, it is our ongoing desire to listen to your concerns and address them, no matter how far reaching they may be. Though losses often seem unlikely, recent hail storms alone demonstrate to us the necessity of proper planning. Let's talk.
Jack McMahan
photo credit: Deepwater Horizon Response
p.s., you should follow us on twitter @plicofinancial.