business news this week

What Does the End of the Public Health Emergency Mean?

The national Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 ends on May 11, 2023.

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The end of the public health emergency brings a variety of changes to the healthcare system.

Most of the remaining federal COVID-19 vaccine requirements will end for federal workers, contractors and foreign air travelers.

The government is also lifting requirements for Head Start educators and healthcare workers.

Free COVID-19 vaccines and tests will no longer be provided and will now be covered under traditional health insurance.

The end of the PHE also means that many of the waivers who were in place will no longer exist. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) waived many requirements during the pandemic to allow for flexibility, including Stark Law waivers, 1135 waivers, and telehealth coverage changes.

However, HHS announced that many of the telehealth flexibilities will remain in place for some time.

It is essential for you to make sure that your healthcare practice is compliant with all regulations, especially those who were waived during the PHE.

It is likely that they will face increased scrutiny in future government audits.

We recommend that you review your compliance plan and make sure it is up to date. Now is also a good time to perform an audit with your healthcare attorney.

If you need help with your compliance plan or audit, we can help. Contact Rickard & Associates today.

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Do you need help updating your Business Associate Agreement or negotiating contracts with third-party vendors? We can help. To contact us about your Business Associate Agreement, your vendor contracts or your other legal needs, call us today.

Can Your Practice Afford a Data Breach?

Probably not.

A recent study found that the total average cost of a healthcare breach is $10.10 million.

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Can your healthcare practice afford a breach? Most healthcare entities cannot.

Since 2020, healthcare breach costs have risen by 42%.

As we know healthcare breaches are incessant, it is important to understand trends.

The trends that have emerged over the past few years are:

  1. Repeat attacks. Many healthcare entities have seen repeat attacks. Organizations with automated security systems were able to shorten the breach lifecycle and mitigate the damage caused by the breach.
  2. Consistent causes. The most common cause of data breaches were stolen credentials. Ransomware also continues to plague healthcare entities, with ransomware increasing by 41% in the last year.
  3. Consistent place. The most common place for data breaches to occur is in the cloud.

While data breaches can be threatening, there are also good trends that have emerged over the past few years. These include:

  1. Automated security shortens breach lifecycles. When possible, make sure that your updates are automated and all security patches are up to date. Having sufficient security measures in place is your first line of defense for a cyber attack or breach.
  2. Shorter breach lifecycles mean lower costs. The quicker your practice is being able to audit the damage and get up and running after a breach, the less money the breach will cost.
  3. Having appropriate policies and procedures with well-trained employees leads to shorter lifecycles. When your staff knows how to handle a breach, they can act quickly and mitigate the damage caused by the breach. This is essential when trying to get your practice back online and keep your patients’ protected health information unaffected.

So how can you protect your practice?

  1. Work with your healthcare attorney to ensure that your HIPAA risk assessment is up to date and your security measures are sufficient.
  2. Test your breach readiness plan often.
  3. Make sure your policies and procedures clearly detail how to proceed in the event of a breach.
  4. Train your employees. We help our clients train their employees to know what to look for and what steps to take to respond to a breach right away.

If you have questions or need help with your healthcare breach readiness and response or HIPAA risk assessment, contact Rickard & Associates today.

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We publish vital information on health law topics and news every Wednesday and Friday. To get this important information delivered directly to your mailbox, subscribe today!

Do you need help updating your Business Associate Agreement or negotiating contracts with third-party vendors? We can help. To contact us about your Business Associate Agreement, your vendor contracts or your other legal needs, call us today.

Remarriage and Estate Planning – Rickard & Associates

If you are getting remarried, it is essential to understand your spouse’s inheritance rights.

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Before you get married for a second or third time, you want to be aware of the rights your spouse will have to your estate and vice versa.

You may want to work with an attorney to draft a prenuptial agreement, prior to exchanging vows.

Then, you want to be familiar with the intestacy laws in your state. If you die without a written estate plan, the intestacy laws will control where your assets go.

We help our clients understand where their money will go, if they don’t have a written plan. We also help them look at various options and understand how their assets will be transferred depending on the option they choose.

In subsequent marriages, we often find that our clients have different concerns than in their first.

Sometimes, they are worried about providing for their children from a previous marriage, should something happen to them. Other times, they want their new spouse to have less rights to their assets.

We also have clients who want to make sure that their new spouse and their ex-spouse do not make financial or medical decisions on their behalf. They may prefer a close friend, sibling, or child who is the agent in their powers of attorney. We draft their medical and their financial powers of attorney to protect their wishes.

Whatever your goal is with estate planning, it is essential that you communicate this to your estate planning attorney.

Estate planning allows you to protect your loved ones and your assets. In second or third marriages, estate planning can protect your children and your wishes in the event of incapacity or death.

If you need help with your prenuptial agreement or estate plan, we can help.

Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan. We will plan so that you don’t have to worry about your future.

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Recession could be just what the doctor ordered for the economy

Scotiabank chief economist says downturn could jostle the economy into a more normal, productive future

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Published April 21, 2023 • 3 minute read

Scotiabank chief economist Jean-François Perrault says that while the central banks won't come out and say it, a recession seems to be just what the doctor ordered.
Scotiabank chief economist Jean-François Perrault says that while the central banks won’t come out and say it, a recession seems to be just what the doctor ordered. Photo by Peter J Thompson/National Post/File Photo

We may be in for some rocky months, but a recession later this year could ultimately help jostle the economy back to a state of normalcy, the Bank of Nova Scotia’s chief economist said this week.

Speaking at the Canadian Fintech Summit in Toronto on April 19, Jean-François Perrault made the case that the past decade-plus has been anything but normal, in economic terms.

Central banks first kept interest rates at historic lows following the global financial crisis in 2008 and then boosted them rapidly in the post-pandemic period to stamp out high inflation. That has created economic imbalances.

But the recycling capital that takes place during a recession — and Perrault, like a number of other leading economists, expects one this year — could reset things.

“(A recession) does create conditions for a different perspective on risk appetite, a different perspective on where capital comes from, and despite the fact that things are slowing down, to some extent, the greater diversification of where capital is going into the economy ,” Perrault said. “And that, I think, ultimately is a very positive thing. It actually sets the stage for rebound after the recession.”

Some firms will not survive the economic accounting, of course.

“But as those firms fail, as firms exit certain sectors, it creates opportunities for others or allows capital to move from one part of the economy where it’s less productive, to another part of the economy where it’s more productive,” he said.

In a more normalized environment, he sees the Bank of Canada leaving interest rates in the two to three per cent range, which would be in line with the central bank’s neutral rate range, which is meant to neither contribute to nor hinder economic growth. In this return to normal, Perrault also expects that risk appetite will grow.

To get to that two to three per cent range, the bank will have to reverse course and start cutting interest rates.

For the past two monetary policy decisions, it has kept rates on hold to assess how the cumulative 4.25 per cent increase since early 2022 has affected the economy. Rate increases have a lagging impact and many economists believe the full brunt of the rate increases has not been felt.

“We are at a point now where the conversation is much more about when are central banks going to cut rates and how low do they go once they start cutting,” Perrault said. “And this is where history is a little bit of a tricky thing. We think, for example, the Bank of Canada and the Fed will start cutting rates early next year.”

The Bank of Canada expects it will reach its goal of bringing inflation down to its two per cent target from the March reading of 4.3 per cent by 2024. It’s not clear whether the central bank will cut rates in that same timeframe, but it appears to be what markets are pricing in and what economists are expecting. However, governor Tiff Macklem said it was too soon to be talking about rate cuts right now.

Perrault said that while the central banks won’t come out and say it, a recession seems to be just what the doctor ordered.

“Central banks are a little bit late to the game, so they are tightening a little bit too slowly and as a result, they have to raise rates more than we anticipated,” Perrault said. “Now, they’re not going to go out there and say ‘We want to create a recession’ — of course not. But the reality is that when the central bank has historically tightened a lot, and there are a few episodes of this, they tend to trigger recessions.”

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My Loved One Passed Away – What Do I Need To Do?

Losing a loved one is incredibly hard. We help our clients with the administrative and legal aspects following the death of a loved one.

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When a loved one dies, there are many things to do and many are time sensitive.

First, there are many practical items to consider. These may include:

  • Finding care for any pets;
  • Determining if there are funeral instructions, arrangements, or prepayments;
  • Notifying family and friends;
  • Preparing an obituary;
  • Securing the home, and many other practical items.

After the initial matters have been addressed, it is important to know whether there is an estate plan.

The trustee must be notified so that they can take action, pursuant to the terms of the estate plan.

Even if no estate plan exists, surviving loved ones should still take action to:

  • Determine any professional advisors, such as financial advisors, lawyers, etc.;
  • Obtain copies of the death certificate; and
  • locate any life insurance policies, bank statements, and other legal documents.

The administrative side of losing a loved one can be overwhelming.

We help our clients walk through this critical and trying time to help make the process as smooth as possible.

If you need help with your estate plan or following the death of a loved one, we can help.

Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan. We will plan so that you don’t have to worry about your future.

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Where Do Healthcare Breaches Come From?

While we have seen an increase in healthcare data breaches stemming from vendor vulnerabilities, there can be a variety of sources.

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Recent breaches have demonstrated various sources of data breaches.

One source is from vendors and vendor tools.

We have seen a large uptick in vendor cyber attacks, as cybercriminals have found it easier to hack vendors than the healthcare entities directly. Many vendors have less security measures in place than healthcare entities.

A second source of breaches is employees.

Employees wrongly accessing patient charts is a large source of healthcare breaches. Employees can also be a source of vulnerability if they click on phishing links or ransomware.

A third source is analytical tools.

Analytical tools may be used to capture information and perform data analysis on behalf of healthcare entities. However, they may be used by various websites and could violate HIPAA in their collection of protected health information.

How can you protect your practice from the above risks?

First, make sure all of your security is up to date. Protect your own data as much as possible through encryption, firewalls, and more.

You then want to make sure you require adequate protection from vendors through your contracts and business associate agreements. You should also routinely audit vendors and inquire about their security measures.

Finally, you should train your employees routinely and comprehensively on their duties and on potential risks. We often recommend utilizing fake phishing emails as training devices.

We also help our clients ensure that they are protected through their agreements and we provide thorough employee training.

If you have questions or need help with your healthcare contracts, employee training, or security, contact Rickard & Associates today.

We know you’re busy. Subscribe to our blog to get updates and news sent directly to your inbox!

We publish vital information on health law topics and news every Wednesday and Friday. To get this important information delivered directly to your mailbox, subscribe today!

Do you need help updating your Business Associate Agreement or negotiating contracts with third-party vendors? We can help. To contact us about your Business Associate Agreement, your vendor contracts or your other legal needs, call us today.

Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor extend deadline to close merger deal, again

business

The companies involved in the Rogers Communications Inc. the deal to buy Shaw Communications has extended the deadline to complete the transaction until the middle of February

Companies now say they hope to finalize massive telecom transactions by Feb 17th

The Canadian Press ·

Rogers is trying to buy Shaw in what would be, if it’s completed, the biggest merger in Canadian telecom history. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

The companies involved in the Rogers Communications Inc. deal to buy Shaw Communications has extended the deadline to complete the transaction.

Rogers, Shaw, the Shaw Family Living Trust and Quebecor Inc. say they have extended the deadline to Feb. 17 from Tuesday.

If approved, the deal will see Rogers acquire Shaw, while Quebecor’s Videotron subsidiary will acquire Shaw’s Freedom Mobile wireless business.

The agreement is still awaiting approval by Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne who must sign off on the transfer of wireless spectrum licenses from Shaw to Videotron.

The companies say they are continuing to work with the government to secure the final approval needed to close the transactions.

The deal cleared a key hurdle last week after the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed a Competition Bureau request to overturn approval of the agreement by the Competition Tribunal.

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Can You Get Your PHI Back?

If you had concerns about your healthcare data in the hands of your vendors, what do your contracts say in regards to getting that data back?

A recent court case required a healthcare vendor to return data to the healthcare entity.

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CommonSpirit Health hired Emerge Clinical Solutions to process and archive protected health information in 2021.

However, CommonSpirit Health began experiencing issues with the data extracts and was unable to reach anyone at Emerge Clinical Solutions.

Healthcare entities need to ensure that their vendors are reliable and often, technology companies can change ownership, structuring and more very quickly.

Because of this, it is essential to learn from situations like the one CommonSpirit Health found itself in, and make sure your contracts offer as many protections as possible.

When entering a new relationship with a vendor that will have access to your protected health information (“PHI”), consider the following:

  1. What safeguards are they contractually required to have in place? Does your contract specify appropriate privacy and security protections? If not, you may want to revisit the contract and list out stronger requirements.
  2. How much access will they have to PHI and are you able to remotely terminate their access? The more access and control they have, the higher your standards should be for protecting your practice’s PHI.
  3. What do their audit logs look like? Can you see a sample audit log in advance? How often will they provide audit logs? You may want to consider what you would need from an audit and make sure they are able to provide your requests.
  4. Are they able to assign the contract to another entity? You should be aware of the assignment provisions in any contract you enter into and if they are able to assign, know what your rights are in regards to notice and termination.
  5. What recourse do you have if you have concerns? Are there remedies built into the contract? Are you able to get an injection? Know what your contract allows as far as Remedies.

When researching vendors, make sure that you are comfortable with the vendors, your contact personnel at the vendors, and your contract.

Make sure your business associate agreements are up to date with all vendors.

If you need help with your healthcare contracts, contact us today.

If you have questions or need help with your healthcare practice’s legal needs, contact Rickard & Associates today.

We know you’re busy. Subscribe to our blog to get updates and news sent directly to your inbox!

We publish vital information on health law topics and news every Wednesday and Friday. To get this important information delivered directly to your mailbox, subscribe today!

Do you need help updating your Business Associate Agreement or negotiating contracts with third-party vendors? We can help. To contact us about your Business Associate Agreement, your vendor contracts or your other legal needs, call us today.