October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month, and the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has provided a timely reminder for HIPAA covered entities and business associates to have a written incident response plan! To learn why another policy is needed, what an incident response plan needs to include, and the reporting obligations, read the

Amendments to the Illinois Nurse Agency Licensing Act (HB 4666) aim to promote transparency and protections for healthcare workers, but, in practice, they make it more difficult for nurse staffing agencies to retain employees.

Under the new law, staffing agencies doing business in Illinois can no longer enter into covenants not-to-compete with nurses

At the start of June 2022, the City of Los Angeles approved an ordinance to raise the minimum wage for certain healthcare workers at privately-owned healthcare facilities within the city. Since June, more cities have passed nearly identical ordinances. There is also a push for a California statewide healthcare minimum wage. However, no formal bill

While people may be familiar with many of the rules relating to the admission of service animals into public venues, do the same rules apply when a patient or visitor seeks to enter a hospital, medical office, or other healthcare facility accompanied by a service animal?

Most healthcare facilities, particularly hospitals, have “no pets” policies

Healthcare organizations across the United States are facing an unprecedented labor shortage. Many healthcare employers are moving quickly to implement creative solutions that will attract and retain a qualified workforce. Kaiser Health News reports that “after the pressure cooker of the past two-plus years led to staff turnover and a rash of early retirements, hospitals

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) aims to balance the dual policies of (1) ensuring fair and prompt enforcement of rights under employee benefit plans, and (2) encouraging the creation of such plans. To strike this balance, ERISA pairs comprehensive rules regarding fiduciary responsibility with federal causes of action that allow plan

With its new inspection initiative, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is taking steps to ensure certain healthcare employers continue to protect workers against COVID-19, even as falling case numbers across the country have prompted many state and local agencies to withdraw mask mandates and other COVID-19 precautions. OSHA announced a “highly focused” inspection

Pay equity among physicians is not a new topic, and recent data suggests that the pay gap remains wide. 504 Maryland physicians responded to an updated survey on compensation, benefits and practice metrics conducted by Merritt Hawkins on behalf of MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society. The results of MedChi’s first survey were released in