Health Law Advisor

In the wake of shootings in early March at hospitals in Atlanta and Milwaukee, the nation’s attention again turns to how to prevent workplace violence in health care settings. 

The federal government’s announcement that the COVID-19 public health emergency (“PHE”) declaration would end on May 11, 2023 marked the end of various federal mandates and benefits. The Centers for Disease Control’s authorizations to collect certain types of public health data expired, as did the requirement that insurance providers waive costs or provide free COVID-19 tests. However, the Biden Administration announced that COVID-19 hospital admissions, deaths, emergency department visits, test positivity and results of wastewater surveillance will continue to be reported, although the sources of some of this information will change.

As we reported, the Los Angeles City Council approved a new healthcare worker minimum wage ordinance, increasing the minimum wage for healthcare workers at private healthcare facilities in Los Angeles to $25.00 per hour. Similarly, the Downey City Council approved its own citywide healthcare worker minimum wage ordinance. For the moment, however, both ordinances are on pause. The Los Angeles ordinance would have gone into effect on August 13, 2022, and the Downey ordinance would have become effective on August 11, 2022.

Written By:  Ana S. Salper

Social media has revolutionized how we communicate with one another. From Facebook to Twitter, YouTube to blogs, social networking sites have permeated the workplace in ways that have significant implications for all employers.

Social media is both a source for marketing and promoting companies and products as well as an enterprise risk factor if not used appropriately or in a compliant way. In the health care industry, with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) and other privacy laws at stake, employers must have a ...

by Pamela D. Tyner

Physicians and healthcare workers devote years to improving the quality of their patients’ lives.  Despite the Hippocratic code and compulsory non-retaliation policies, incidents of disruptive behavior from physicians and healthcare workers, though largely shielded from the general public, continue to frequently surface internally at healthcare environments.  Amidst recent jarring headlines of workplace violence and bullying, news media have discovered this same trend is also on the rise as healthcare facilities across the nation struggle to ...