How to Negotiate a Lease for a Medical Practice With the exception of the acquisition of certain types of equipment such as MRI machines and investments in facilities such as ambulatory surgical facilities, a physician’s office space will be the biggest financial investment made in connection with the operation of [...]
How Physicians Should Negotiate a Managed Care Agreement Even the largest managed care company is usually willing to negotiate its participating provider agreements to some extent. Amazingly, however, many physician practices sign the first draft that is presented to them. By doing so, they not only “leave money on the [...]
How to Negotiate a Physician Employment Contract Each year physicians lose substantial amounts of money due to poorly negotiated employment contracts. In addition to the significant monetary loss, physicians can lose freedom, restrict their professional choices, and impair their careers by signing unfair and unduly restrictive employment agreements. This loss [...]
Motivating Employees to Embrace Optimal Health Nicholas Hall Ph.D. People respond not to reality, but to belief-induced mental images of reality. This is key to understanding why some individuals fail to embrace health-promoting behaviors. Health-destructive beliefs are not justified, they serve no useful purpose, and they most likely are also [...]
Avoiding and Defending ADA Claims The number of successful ADA claims is increasing rapidly. In 2011, over 25,000 ADA charges were filed and over $100 million were recovered by charging parties. This is up from $54 million recovered in 2007. Some of the most common charges are for the following [...]
Symptom Magnification and Malingering in Orthopedic Cases By: Steven Babitsky, Esq. Many employers, insurers, and self-insurers suspect workers' compensation claimants of symptom magnification or malingering. These terms have been defined as follows: Symptom Magnification A conscious or unconscious self-destructive, socially-reinforced, behavioral response pattern consisting of reports or displays of [...]
Causation in Workers’ Compensation Cases By: Steven Babitsky, Esq. All too frequently causation (i.e. whether the job caused, aggravated or precipitated and is the major contributing cause of an injury) is overlooked by employers and their insurers and self-insurers. The reasons are that looking into this issue properly takes some [...]
Investigating Workers’ Compensation Claims By: Steven Babitsky, Esq. Early thorough investigation of workers' compensation claims can make the difference between paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars and effectively denying and defending the claim. All too often the claim is "accepted" at face value with little investigation. Here, the insurer [...]
Essential Job Functions and Rehabilitation of Injured Workers By: Steven Babitsky, Esq. An essential function job description is one of the crucial elements of the effective rehabilitation of injured workers. The law is clear on the interactive process that is required. The employer must make a reasonable effort to determine [...]
Chronic Pain Syndromes and Occupational Health Professionals By: Steven Babitsky, Esq. When are injured workers likely to develop chronic pain syndromes and what can occupational health professionals do about it? When Will They Develop It? Dr. Roger Choo, in his 2010 JAMA article Will This Patient Develop Persistent Disabling Low [...]