By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law In Part 1 of this blog I began a list of tips that should serve you well if you are notified by your hospital or medical staff that you are the subject of an internal or external peer review action. Click here to read Part 1. 20 Tips For Successful Outcome in Peer Review (Continued): 10.    If you are given the opportunity to meet with the reviewers or provide information to them, do so.  If you haven’t been offered this, ask for it in writing. 11.    Make sure any ..read more

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The notice that you are under investigation may seem nonthreatening. It may come in the mail, be delivered personally by an investigator or you may receive a telephone call from the investigator. This is a very serious matter for you. Our attorneys include those who are board certified in health law by The Florida Bar, those who are nurses, and those who are themselves licensed health professionals.  Our attorneys represent health care professionals and providers at formal administrative hearing ..read more

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law The notice that you are under investigation may seem nonthreatening. It may come in the mail, be delivered personally by an investigator or you may receive a telephone call from the investigator. This is a very serious matter for you. Our attorneys include those who are board certified in health law by The Florida Bar, those who are nurses, and those who are themselves licensed health professionals.  Our attorneys represent health care professionals and providers at formal administrative hearing ..read more

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law If you are a physician, nurse practitioner, psychologist, clinical pharmacist, oral surgeon, ophthalmologist, or other licensed health professional with clinical privileges in a hospital, chances are that one day you will be subject to a peer review action or investigation.  It may be a simple one-time matter based on a patient complaint or adverse outcome, or it may be a lengthy process involving a large number or your cases and records. A peer review action action may be initiated because of a ..read more

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On February 26, 2018, a New York federal judge dismissed a former NFL star’s suit demanding decriminalization of medical marijuana. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said the Second Circuit has already determined that Congress had a rational basis to classify marijuana as a Schedule I drug. Schedule I drugs are those drugs that allegedly have no known currently accepted medicinal use and have a high potential for abuse. Marijuana is right up there with LSD and heroin (15,466 heroin overdose de ..read more

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law Illinois clinical psychologists can now obtain licenses to prescribe medications for mental conditions under new regulations passed by the state.  The new regulations issued by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) took effect in October 2017. Psychologists traditionally have not had the authority to write prescriptions for medications, except in a very few states.  Therefore, their patients have been unable to obtain psychotropic medications to treat thei ..read more

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On December 4, 2017, a Florida federal judge refused to dismiss the federal government’s False Claims Act (FCA) suit against a compounding pharmacy. RS Compounding LLC and its owner, Renier Gobea, are accused of overbilling Tricare for prescriptions. The federal judge refused the dismissal on the grounds that the government had sufficiently backed its allegations against both the company and its owner. Judge Finds Claims Are Sufficiently Stated. According to U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez ..read more

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On December 6, 2017, three nurse practitioners and a doctor were arrested following an Alabama federal grand jury indictment accusing them of operating a “pill mill.” According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), all four allegedly dispensed controlled substances inappropriately, unlawfully and for non-medical reasons. The Alleged Pill Mill. The nurse practitioners and physician allegedly prescribed opioids including fentanyl, hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone and hydromorphone on a monthly basi ..read more

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On December 5, 2017, the Florida Senate Health Policy Committee approved a bill that would allow the Florida Board of Optometry to offer practical and written “certification” examinations to applicants. The bill would assist optometrists who were licensed before July 1993 and, therefore, were not required to be “certified.” Certified vs. Licensed. In Florida, the law allows certified optometrists to prescribe pharmaceuticals for the treatment of glaucoma. However, licensed optometrists who aren’t cer ..read more

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law On November 22, 2017, a Florida woman who was accused of a $45 million Medicare fraud, received a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence, following a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision in her case holding that the government could not freeze untainted assets. Sila Luis received an 80-month prison sentence in addition to being ordered to pay $45 million in restitution.  This came after a 2016 guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Her case continued in 2017 following a 5-3 ..read more