BLN Editorial Board: Message from the Issue Editor

Kenneth Minesinger

It’s my pleasure to serve as issue editor of this edition of Business Law News. My thanks to Editor-in-Chief Jerome Grossman and my colleagues on the editorial board for the opportunity. I’m also thankful for the many excellent articles submitted by business lawyers from around our state.

This issue of Business Law News focusses on the important area of health care law.

• First up, Charles Oppenheim gives an overview of health law for business lawyers. Among other topics, the article touches on anti-kickback and fee-splitting laws, physician self-referral, and patient privacy protections.
• David Johnson does an excellent job making sense out of pricing for non-contracted medical services. After on overview of common law principles, Mr. Johnson highlights the 2014 California Court of Appeal decision in Children’s Hospital Central California v. Blue Cross of California.
• Rick Rifenbark and Leeann Habte detail the government’s efforts to encourage health care providers to adopt electronic medical records through the Health Information Technology for Clinical and Economic Health Act. The Act establishes an incentive program through Medicare and Medicaid, and Mr. Rifenbark and Ms. Habte’s article gives practical guidance for health care providers and organizations in this area.
• Amy Joseph, Sandi Krul and Ben Durie bring us an article on patient privacy concerns when health care organizations consider a merger, acquisition or joint venture.
• Next up follow two articles from Craig Garner. In the first, Mr. Garner provides a history of managed care in the United States as well as a primer on the law in this important area of health care law. His overview includes information about California’s 1975 Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act, and, as in Mr. Johnson’s article, he highlights the 2014 California Court of Appeal decision in Children’s Hospital Central California v. Blue Cross of California. Finally, in Mr. Garner’s second article, he details what he calls the decay of California’s prohibition of the corporate practice of medicine. The article covers California’s prohibition on the corporate practice of medicine and federal antitrust enforcement in health care, including recent United States Supreme Court decisions in North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission and Douglas v. Independent Living Centers of Southern California.
• Next, H. Thomas Watson and Peder Batalden deliver an article on using statistics to determine causation in medical malpractice cases.