Health Care

Charged with Healthcare Fraud in Wisconsin? You Need a Lawyer
 Posted on January 13, 2025 in White Collar Crimes
If you are a healthcare provider, a charge of healthcare fraud can have serious implications. Not only do you face potential criminal penalties such as jail time and fines, but the accusation can threaten your livelihood and reputation. If convicted of healthcare fraud, you could be excluded from participating in federal healthcare programs and even lose your license to practice
Continue Reading Charged with Healthcare Fraud in Wisconsin? You Need a Lawyer

You might say
Avery Mayne’s first elder law client was her law review, the
Marquette Elder’s Advisor. As editor-in-chief her 3L year, she found herself fighting for its existence. “It was probably my first experience doing some real advocacy,” she told me. Mayne has built on that experience to continue advocating for those whose welfare is threatened. I’m interviewing elder law attorneys around the state to find out why and how they started practicing elder law, what
Continue Reading Helping the Underdog: Avery Mayne and her Elder Law Practice

It happens so easily these days. A nurse at a hospital is trying to be efficient with their shift, so they pull multiple patients’ medications from the Pyxis machine prior to making their evening rounds. A conversation is had with each patient regarding their pain, and medication is administered according to these conversations. This nurse has every intention of documenting these conversations as basis for administering the pain medication, but then they are called away to another patient’s room
Continue Reading How Lawyers Can Help Clients Maintain Accurate Medical Records

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants,” said Sir Isaac Newton of the contributions his predecessors made to his own work.1

The same might be said by a young physician today, reflecting on the legacy of those who pioneered the free-standing ambulatory surgery center (ASC), just over 50 years ago. Little could those early innovators imagine the complexity and scope of the procedures now performed in this type of facility.

As
Continue Reading Succession Planning for Ambulatory Surgery Centers and Their Physician Investors

Wisconsin Medical License Renewal And DSPS License Complaint Defense
 Posted on August 15,2024 in Medical License Defense
A physician cannot practice in the state of Wisconsin without a medical license from the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board. Allegations of professional misconduct that trigger a board investigation can pose both immediate and long-term threats to a doctor’s ability to practice medicine, make a living, care for their family, and live the life that many years of difficult studying and training deserves.
Continue Reading Wisconsin Medical License Renewal and DSPS License Complaint Defense

The pharmacy field is growing nationally and in Wisconsin, providing various opportunities and roles for pharmacists to expand their scope of practice. This article provides a brief overview of the licensure requirements in Wisconsin for pharmacists to help attorneys advise pharmacists regarding their continuing education requirements, duties, and scope of practice. It also discusses how collaborative practice agreements and standing orders can impact pharmacists’ scope of practice. Pharmacist Licensing and Duties Pharmacists must meet certain criteria to obtain licensure
Continue Reading Pharmacists in Wisconsin: A Legal Primer

My mother gave me a plate for mounting on my office wall quoting the line from William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2. It has been on all my law office walls and now is in my office at home after I recently closed my law office. The story began for me in the summer of 1976. I had just graduated from Marquette University Law School, after which I backpacked through Europe with a law school classmate for six weeks.
Continue Reading Shakespeare's Classic Line about Lawyers, the Gatekeepers to Democracy

Wisconsinites and their attorneys now have a new legal process for remote notarization and witnessing of estate planning documents. The new law, 2023 Wisconsin Act 130, took effect March 23, 2024. While the new law provides greater flexibility for estate planning clients and their attorneys in the post-pandemic world, it causes additional dilemmas for attorneys, particularly those who represent the elderly and individuals with disabilities.

Heather Poster, Marquette 2002, is an attorney and shareholder with
Becker, Hickey &
Continue Reading The Good, Bad, & Ugly of Wisconsin’s New Remote Notarization and Witnessing Law

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently voted to issue a final rule that would ban nearly all noncompetition agreements. The rule was officially published a few weeks later, meaning it will take effect Sept. 4, 2024 (if it is not held up by a court before then). The final rule has already faced – and will likely continue to face – substantial pushback from the business community and from most health care entities. On July 3, 2024, a federal
Continue Reading The Impact of the FTC’s Ban on Noncompete Agreements in the Health Care Industry

On May 9, 2024, the IRS announced the Health Savings Account limits for 2025.  With respect to contribution limits, the limits are higher than the ones for 2024 and the required deductible and out-of-pocket maximums have increased as well.  As a reminder, these inflation adjusted amounts are effective for calendar year 2025.

HSA/HDHP Requirement
Cost-of-Living Adjustments

Limit on HSA Contributions – Self-only HDHP

2024 – $4,150

2025 – $4,300

Limit on HSA Contributions – Family HDHP

2024 – $8,300
Continue Reading 2025 HSA Limits Are Announced

For the first time in U.S. history,
overdose deaths have exceeded 100,000 per year and one person dies by
suicide every 11 minutes. The U.S. continues to experience a mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) (behavioral health) crisis of unprecedented proportions. In a powerful move, government agencies reunited to collectively address the long-standing challenges to balancing patient behavioral health treatment needs with health plan and insurer fiduciary financial responsibilities to its insured population by proposing a
Continue Reading The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and the Future of Behavioral Health Care

For fiscal year 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ)
recouped over $2.68 billion through the enforcement of False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments, a notable increase from
FY 2022’s $2.2 billion recoupment.1 Additionally, over $1.8 billion out of the over $2.68 billion recovered are, according to the report, within the “health care industry, including managed care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, laboratories, long-term acute care facilities, and physicians,” which is an increase from FY 2022. As the last
Continue Reading 2023 Broke Records for False Claims Act Recoveries

This article is the first in a new series: I’m interviewing elder law attorneys around the state to find out why and how they started practicing elder law, what their practices are like, and what they achieve for their clients.

My first interview is with Blaine Patino of Canellos & Patino in Wauwatosa. Blaine was recently a presenter at the Winter Workshop put on by the Wisconsin chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA).

I
Continue Reading ‘A Little Rebellious:’ Blaine Patino and his Elder Law Practice

Let me start with the good news (which seems to be in short supply right now): The Alabama Supreme Court decision on IVF does not apply in Wisconsin.

Given Gov. Evers’ veto power and the makeup of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, it’s not likely to be the law here anytime soon. For that matter, the decision does not even apply to Alabama anymore, as it was quickly reversed by legislation.

Still, the decision raises some interesting issues
Continue Reading Sweet Home Alabama? Not So Much

It’s spring, and the legislative session is in full swing in Wisconsin – the perfect time to reflect on some atypical aspects of the Wisconsin health law environment. In no particular order, here are our top picks.

There is no automatic surrogate decision maker for a patient who becomes incapacitated.

This is Amy’s top pick because, in her experience, Wisconsin’s lack of a surrogate decision-maker law adds more stress than patient protection to many end-of-life situations.

Much to the
Continue Reading Four Atypical Aspects of Wisconsin’s Health Law Environment

Creating a marketing strategy for a health and wellness brand is tough. Creating a marketing strategy that adheres to legal compliance requirements is even tougher.

Developing a marketing strategy to make your brand stand out from the crowd is no easy task in an industry as competitive as health or wellness. On top of that, you need to follow numerous laws, regulations, and guidelines to ensure that your marketing strategy is legally compliant. Not only is adherence to the
Continue Reading Creating a Legally Compliant Health and Wellness Marketing Strategy