You and your attorney’s liability may now be greater as a result of the Omnibus Rule changes to the HITECH Act. I hope that you will never need an attorney to defend you in, say, a medical malpractice case, but in case you do, you may want to read my latest article “Federal Regulation of Lawyers?” which appears in the August 2013 issue of the American Health Lawyers Association publication, AHLA Connections. We have posted it with permission for you to read in the Premium Member section of the Veterans Press website.
Not only do health lawyers who are business associates of their covered entity clients face HIPAA’s civil and criminal liability for their action or inaction, but also they may face liability for breaches by subcontractors—that is, “downstream” business associates. For example, a lawyer who provides malpractice defense to a covered entity must put in place a downstream business associate contract with an expert witness if that expert must review protected health information (“PHI”) to arrive at his opinion (and how could he not?).
I trust that your attorney will not balk at representing you with these new HIPAA compliance burdens as a potential business associate, but at least, after you have read my article, you may be able to better understand why your attorney sounds a little cranky.
Again, as a reminder, if you bought the HIPAA Compliance Library that includes my 5th edition of the Compliance Guide to HIPAA and the DHHS Regulations, you received with it a one-year free subscription to the Premium Member section. If you need help setting up your account to access the Premium Member section, please call our marketing director, Patrick R. Head II, toll-free at 855-341-8783 or email him at patrick@veteranspress.com.
