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Mediating The Healthcare Reform Debate (3/15/10)
Richard J. Webb Even before watching the bipartisan healthcare summit on February 25th, I began to think about how I would mediate the divide between the Obama/Reid/Pelosi reform proposal and the position staked out by the Rupublican leadership. Without knowing it, I was not alone in imagining a mediated solution to this conflict. Mediator Christopher Annunziata wrote in his CKA Mediation and Arbitration Blog that If Anyone Needs a Mediator, It's These People:
Applying Conflict Resolution Skills In Health Care PART IV: Invent Options For Mutual Gain (3/08/10)
Holly Hayes Bovio Conflict in health care differs from conflict in other arenas because it can result in significant negative outcomes – in some cases, life or death.
Part IV in our series on applying conflict resolution skills in the health care setting follows the Principled Negotiation techniques described by Roger Fisher and William Ury in Getting to Yes with a focus on “inventing options for mutual gain”.
Texas Doctor Proposes Physician-Led Solution To Cut Health Care Costs (3/08/10)
Holly Hayes Bovio The New York Times posted last week an interview with Dr. Howard Brody, professor of family medicine and director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, discussing a proposal for health care reform involving physicians. A physician-led effort to determine guidelines and recommendations against overuse of the “Top Five” procedures or studies could have a tremendous impact on curtailing future medical costs. We suggest that the process outlined by Dr. Brody could benefit from applying conflict resolution techniques.
Changes In Legal Practice And The Use Of ADR (3/01/10)
Richard J. Webb In case you haven't noticed, the law business - the way law is practiced - has been changing at a rate uncharacteristic of the profession. Financial pressure from the economic downturn is a major contributor to this development. But change was afoot long before the subprime meltdown and stock market nosedive. The viability of the "big law" pyramid model for most purchasers of legal services has been questioned since the starting salaries of newly minted associates crossed into six figures, but only with the disappearance of easy money has awareness of the issue entered the mainstream.
Arbitration Opt-Out Provisions Look Like Good Medicine (2/22/10)
Richard J. Webb Whether you believe healthcare providers should ask patients to sign pre-claim arbitration agreements, it is a practice that is growing among providers tiring of the burdens imposed by the traditional litigation process. I've previously written here why I think pre-claim agreements between healthcare providers and patients requiring arbitration are fine if made under the proper circumstances and without unfair restrictions on the patient's rights. Legislatures and courts have been getting involved on this issue, although for now the ability of providers and patients to agree to arbitrate remains widely accepted.
Healthcare Self-Disclosure - "I'm Sorry" Revisited (2/15/10)
Richard J. Webb I just read an excellent article on the decision process for in-house corporate counsel considering self-disclosure of a regulatory infraction. Richard Marshall's piece in Corporate Counsel, aptly titled "Uuuhhh, Look, We Messed Up Here," provides solid, practical advice that applies to the healthcare industry as well as the more general business audience for whom it was written.
Applying Conflict Resolution Skills In Health Care PART I: Principled Negotiation Method (2/15/10)
Holly Hayes Bovio Difficult situations arise every day in the health care setting, between staff and patients, between staff and family members, between physicians and nurses, between staff and administration. In the national bestseller, Getting to YES, a universally applicable method for addressing conflict resolution is offered by Roger Fisher and William Ury. This post, the first in a five-part series, applies this method specifically to healthcare.
Mediation In Healthcare: Interview With Healthcare Neutral Richard Webb (1/25/10)
Holly Hayes Bovio I recently conducted a Q & A via email with Richard J. Webb (pictured left) who writes the Healthcare Neutral Blog. Mr. Webb is a graduate of Yale University (B.A., cum laude, 1975) and the Duke University School of Law (J.D. 1978). His additional alternative dispute resolution training currently amounts to 177 hours of classroom time, including 60 hours of advanced mediation courses at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He has received a peer review rating of AV from Martindale-Hubbell, and has been recognized as a New Jersey SuperLawyer in the field of healthcare law.
More On ‘Bad Faith’ Mediation In Texas (1/25/10)
Holly Hayes Bovio In the Winter edition of the Texas Mediator, Susan Schultz calls for the “mediation community to engage in communal reflection” regarding the passage of the bad faith section of Texas HB 2256 which requires the mediator to report “bad faith mediation”. Overall, the bill provides a procedure for mediation of out-of-network health benefit claim disputes.
(1/19/10)
Keith Seat
Texas has enacted legislation allowing patients in preferred-provider or state benefit plans to mediate whenever they would have to pay over $1,000 for services of out-of-network doctors received at in-network hospitals. The Texas Department of Insurance is drafting rules to implement the statute, which takes effect in September 2010. An informal telephone call between the parties must occur within 30 days of the patient’s request for mediation, and the full mediation session must be conducted within 180 days. Mediators will be appointed by the Texas Office of Administrative Hearings.
Star-Telegram.com (November 25, 2009)
2009 Developments In Mediation: Joint Commission Standard On Code Of Conduct (1/11/10)
Holly Hayes Bovio Health care leaders have known for years that disruptive behaviors are a serious problem. Verbal outbursts, refusing to take part in assigned duties and condescending attitudes all create breakdowns in the teamwork, collaboration and communication needed to deliver patient care. A study by The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) found that 40 percent of clinicians have remained passive or kept quiet during patient care events rather than confront a known intimidator.
2009 Developments In Mediation: President Barack Obama's Plan For Tort Reform (12/28/09)
Holly Hayes Bovio In September 2009, President Obama instructed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to move forward with awarding medical malpractice demonstration grants to states funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to help doctors focus on putting their patients first, not on practicing defensive medicine.
Me and Joe Lieberman: Fantasy Negotiations and Little Irrationalities (12/16/09)
r.d. benjamin Joe Lieberman, the independent Senator from Connecticut, pissed me off today. First, he is screwing up the pending health care reform legislation, and second, he is forcing me to consider my commitment to negotiation and mediation. Others seem to enjoy fantasy football or picking the perfect baseball team. My amusement, as twisted as some might find it, is picturing myself in ‘the room’ negotiating the big stuff, like health care policy ‘reform’ pending in the U.S. Congress.
2009 Developments: Mediation Option For ‘Balance Billing’ In Health Care (12/14/09)
Holly Hayes Bovio In June, we discussed the passage of Texas House Bill 2256, which provides a procedure for mediation of out-of-network health benefit claim disputes. Patients in Texas now have the option to mediate when they are ‘balance-billed’ by their insurance company for services provided by out-of-network facility-based physicians like radiologists, pathologists, neonatologists, and emergency room physicians.
Resolving Allegations Of Health Care Fraud – Does The Mediator Matter? (11/09/09)
Jerry Roscoe Few dispute the goal of ensuring better health care through enforcement efforts and their deterrent effect. Health care fraud litigation generates much attention and significant revenues. However, litigation may be less adept at meeting the goal of improving health care delivery, at least not without significant transaction costs. To the extent that resolution of fraud allegations depends on negotiation, it is incumbent upon negotiators to be as effective as possible. Where fraud negotiations are complicated by the barriers cited above, mediation is advised.
ADR = Arbitration Done Right? (9/21/09)
Jerry Roscoe Despite the fact that an increasing number of matters are negotiated through mediation, arbitration remains the process of choice for many commercial and contract disputes, particularly in health care disputes. Given the popularity of arbitration, one is reasonably safe in placing litigators into one of two categories: those who have arbitrated and those who will. Either category of advocate (or their client) might benefit from a quick review of ADR or, in this case, Arbitration Done Right.
President Obama's Health Care Speech: Tort Reform Implications To Arbitration And Mediation (9/14/09)
Victoria VanBuren President Obama’s speech to a joint session of the U.S.Congress delivered on September 9, briefly mentioned a proposal to move the medical malpractice lawsuits out of the court system and before mediators, medical expert panels, and arbitrators. Although we have not been able to find out the details of the plan –it appears that it will be announced within a month– here is what some commentators are saying about it
A Dispute Resolution Quote Of Note (9/14/09)
Diane J. Levin Here’s something for all of us, regardless of political persuasion, to think about as America debates the big issues:
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