Civil Rights Settlement Highlights Health Industry Discrimination Risks As OCR Prepares To Broaden Requirements

October 27, 2015

Doctors’ Center Hospital, Inc.  (DCI) in the latest health care providers nailed in a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforcement action for allegedly violating Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) by failing to provide auxiliary aids and services for deaf and hard of hearing patients under OCR’s ongoing aggressive campaigned on enforcing federal discrimination laws against health care providers and others covered by its regulations.  OCR’s announcement of the Voluntary Compliance Resolution Agreement with DCI (Agreement) announced today (October 27, 2015) comes with the November 6, 2015 deadline for health care providers and other concerned parties to comment on proposed OCR regulations on Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities, implementing the federal prohibition against sex discrimination in health programs and activities enacted under Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and tightening other nondiscrimination requirements that generally apply to health care providers and others covered by OCR’s civil rights rules (covered entities) and various other programs and activities administered by OCR. Health care providers and others covered by these rules should provide meaningful input on the proposed rules even as they work to tighten their compliance and risk management practices to mitigate their exposures.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (collectively the “Civil Rights Laws”) together require hospitals, health care providers, clinics, medical practices and other entities who receive Federal financial assistance to provide services to persons with disabilities in a non-discriminatory manner.  As construed by OCR with respect to deaf and hearing impaired individuals and their caregivers, these laws require health care providers offer services or aids need to ensure effective communication in light of the abilities of the individual who is deaf or hard of hearing, the primary method used by the individual to communicate and the complexity and nature of the information being conveyed. Failure to ensure effective communication in such health care settings may lead to misinformation, inappropriate diagnosis and/or delayed or improper medical treatments.

DCI  Discrimination Charge Settlement

The latest in a growing series of Civil Rights Law enforcement actions of these laws against health care providers by OCR, the Agreement announced October 27, 2015 resolves OCR charges stemming from a discrimination complaint made to OCR by an family that charged that one DCI facility, Doctors’ Center Hospital San Juan, Inc. violated Section 504 by failing to provide a sign language interpreter necessary to ensure effective communication during their 10 month old child’s five day hospitalization. OCR investigated the complaint under Section 504, which prohibits covered entities that receive Federal financial assistance from excluding or denying individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to receive program benefits and services.

While the complaint that resulted in the OCR charges only specifically named its Doctors’ Center Hospital San Juan, Inc., at DCI’s request, the Agreement includes all of DCI facilities in Puerto Rico, which collectively serve an estimated 109,000 patients a year in the San Juan area as well as the northern part of the island of Puerto Rico.  Under the Agreement, DCI, Doctors’ Center Hospital San Juan, Inc. and the Doctors’ Center Hospital Bayamón, Inc. to resolve the complaint agree to take several actions to improve access to appropriate communication services for deaf and hard of hearing individuals including revising its policies and procedures, performing an assessment of the communication needs for deaf and hard of hearing patients and their companions, providing appropriate auxiliary aids and services at no cost, adopting and posting a Notice of Nondiscrimination, creating a Section 504 Grievance Procedure, appointing a Section 504 Coordinator and training all staff on the revised policies and procedures. Read the full Agreement here.

Health Industry’s Already High Civil Rights Enforcement Risks Set To Rise

The DCI Agreement highlights the already significant exposure that health care providers face under OCR’s current Civil Rights Law enforcement practices and comes as OCR is preparing to broaden and expand its existing Civil Rights regulations by adopting proposed changes to its regulations on Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities. The deadline for comment on those proposed regulations is November 6, 2015.

Even before it adopts these proposed changes, health care providers already face significant Civil Rights discrimination risks.  OCR already aggressively investigates and enforces federal Civil Rights Law prohibitions against discrimination based on race, color, national origin, disability, age and sex against covered entities as part of the Obama Administration’s broader civil rights agenda. See. e.g., Health Care Employer’s Discrimination Triggers Medicare, EEOC Prosecutions; Genesis Healthcare Disability HHS OCR Discrimination Settlement Reminder To Use Interpreters, Other Needed Accommodations For Disabled; OCR Settlements Show Health Care & Disabled Housing Providers Face Growing Disability Discrimination Risks. Given the often multimillion dollar penalties and other heavy sanctions that OCR already regularly imposes against a long and ever-growing list of state and other health care, child care, elder care, insurance and other entities for violating its Civil Rights Laws, health care providers and other providers, Medicare and Medicaid Advantage and other insurers, and other covered entities generally will want both to carefully review and comment as appropriate on the proposed rules, as well as review and tighten as advisable their existing practices to reduce the risk of being sanctioned, excluded or both for violation of these nondiscrimination and other civil rights requirements by OCR. In this respect, covered entities will want both to evaluate their risks and responsibilities under the specific rules about Section 1557’s sex discrimination prohibits, as well as changes that more broadly affect the interpretation and enforcement of the nondiscrimination rules enforced by OCR generally.

The author of this article, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a practicing attorney and Managing Shareholder of Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C., an attorney practicing as the co-managing member of Stamer│Chadwick │Soefje PLLC, author, pubic speaker, health policy advocate and industry thought leader, has focused on helping health industry and other organizations and their management understand and use the law and process to manage people, process, compliance, operations and risk including significant work with compliance with OCR and other regulatory requirements.

Scribe responsible for leading the American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB) annual agency meeting with HHS Office of Civil Rights for five years, Vice President of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association, Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section, Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law, and the former Board Compliance Chair of the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas, Ms. Stamer has more than 28 years’ experience advising health industry clients about these and other matters.

Ms. Stamer’s experience includes advising and defending hospitals, nursing home, home health, physicians and other health care professionals, rehabilitation and other health care providers and health industry clients to establish and administer compliance and risk management policies and programs in response under CMS, OCR, HHS, FDA, IRS, DOJ, DEA, NIH, licensing, and other regulations; prevent, conduct and investigate, and respond to Board of Medicine, OIG, DOJ, DEA, DOD, DOL, Department of Health, Department of Aging & Disability, IRS, Department of Insurance, and other federal and state regulators; ERISA and private insurance, prompt pay and other reimbursement and contracting; peer review and other quality concerns; and other health care industry investigation, and enforcement and other compliance, public policy, regulatory, staffing, and other operations and risk management concerns.

Ms. Stamer also is widely recognized for her regulatory and public policy advocacy, publications, and public speaking on privacy and other compliance, risk management concerns. Her insights on privacy, data security, and other matters have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Business Insurance, the Dallas Morning News, Spencer Publications, and a host of other publications. She speaks and has conducted privacy training for the Association of State & Territorial Health Plans (ASTHO), the Los Angeles Health Department, the American Bar Association, the Health Care Compliance Association, a multitude of health industry, health plan, insurance and financial services, education, employer employee benefit and other clients, trade and professional associations and others.

Highly valued for her rare ability to find pragmatic client-centric solutions by combining her detailed legal and operational knowledge and experience with her talent for creative problem-solving, Ms. Stamer supports her clients both on a real time, “on demand” basis and with longer term basis to deal with daily performance management and operations, emerging crises, strategic planning, process improvement and change management, investigations, defending litigation, audits, investigations or other enforcement challenges, government affairs and public policy.

Ms. Stamer also is active in the leadership of a broad range of other professional and civic organizations. For instance, Ms. Stamer serves on the steering committee and as a faculty member of the Southern California ISSA-HIMMS Annual Security Summit and Chaired its 2015 3rd Annual Health Care Privacy Summit.  Ms. Stamer presently serves on an American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council representative; Vice President of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Professionals Association; Immediate Past Chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, its current Welfare Benefit Plans Committee Co-Chair, on its Substantive Groups & Committee and its incoming Defined Contribution Plan Committee Chair and Practice Management Vice Chair; Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group and a current member of its Healthcare Coordinating Council; current Vice Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefit Committee; the former Coordinator and a Vice-Chair of the Gulf Coast TEGE Council TE Division; on the Advisory Boards of InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, and many other publications.  She also previously served as a founding Board Member and President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence, as a Board Member and Board Compliance Committee Chair for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas; the Board President of the early childhood development intervention agency, The Richardson Development Center for Children; Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Committee; a member of the Board of Directors of the Southwest Benefits Association. For additional information about Ms. Stamer, see here, or the website Stamer ׀ Chadwick ׀ Soefje PLLC.  To contact Ms. Stamer, e-mail her here or telephone (469) 767-8872.

About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™

Solutions Law Press, Inc.™  provides human resources and employee benefit and other business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other coaching, tools and other resources, training and education on leadership, governance, human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of Ms. Stamer’s publications our other Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ resources such as:

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Posted by Cynthia Marcotte Stamer

Use Free Cyber Security Awareness Month Resources To Boost HIPAA & Other Cyber Security Training & Skills

October 25, 2015

Halloween’s annual celebration of spooks and goblins peak is a perfect time to promote awareness and help American businesses and citizens build their skills to guard against the real and growing menace of identity thieves and other cybercriminals by getting involved with the 12th annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) in October, begin preparing to participate in the next annual “Data Privacy Day” on January 28, 2016 and joining in other activities highlighted through NCSAM and Data Privacy Day to help deter Cybercrime and identity theft threats. Even if your organization or family choose not to participate in any official or public way, checking out and using the many free resources provides an invaluable, free opportunity to raise your defenses against this rising menace.

Health care providers and organizations, health plans, and their business associates face special legal and ethical mandates to safeguard “protected health information” and other sensitive patient information under the Privacy & Security Rules of the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA), state health care, insurance, medical ethics and licensure, identity theft and other laws.   Most health care organizations and providers are sensitive to the need to comply with these requirements as a result of the stiff civil and criminal sanctions associated with violation of these medical privacy and data security requirements and notoriety surrounding stiff sanctions imposed as part of their enforcement, effective operationalization and maintenance of compliance with these rules remains a continuous challenge and only covers a small part of any health care organization’s legal responsibilities and risks.   Health care organizations not only must manage their health care specific  obligations, but also a host of other concerns like those that apply to other organizations.  Getting workforce members, vendors, patients and others to understand and practice good Cyber Security in all aspects of their personal and private lives is key to effective management of all of these risks and responsibilities.

With virtually every American business and citizen now connected to and using the Internet to conduct key personal and business transactions and the constant drive by government and business to digitize regular business transactions, no one agency, business or individual alone can truly know where and who has their sensitive data, much less reliably can defend this data against the identity and other theft and other cybercriminals lurking in the digital world’s virtual streets waiting to strike, then disappear in “Jack The Ripper” style into the darkness of the Internet.  That’s why every American and American business in general – and health industry organizations and providers particularly – should take time to participate and urge others to Get Involved in the 12th Annual NCSAM activities this month and use the supportive resources offered through that involvement throughout the year.

Celebrated annually in October, NCSAM was created to provide resources to help Americans stay safer and more secure online through public-private collaboration between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and industry led by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA). NCSAM and its associated activities outreach to consumers, small and medium-sized businesses, corporations, educational institutions and young people across the nation.  NCSAM 2015 particularly focuses on the consumer and his/her needs regarding cybersecurity and safety continuing the overall message of STOP. THINK. CONNECT. Campaign founded in 2010 and its capstone concepts: “Keep a Clean Machine,” “Protect Your Personal Information,” “Connect with Care,” “Be Web Wise” and “Be a Good Online Citizen.” NCSAM seeks to remind Americans to incorporate “STOP. THINK. CONNECT.” into their online routines and offers resources to help individuals understand and put these principles into practice into their online routine at the home, the office and elsewhere.

Designed to be accessible and understandable by consumers, many business and government organizations may want to support and promote their Cyber Security employee and customer training and awareness efforts by participating annually in NCSAM in October, signing up your organization to Data Privacy Day Champion and/or participating in Data Privacy Day on January 28, 2016, or otherwise using and sharing tips, tools and other resources in the Privacy Library such as:

General Privacy & Cyber Security Awareness

Keep a Clean Machine/Cookies & Behavioral Tracking

  • Malware & Botnets
  • A video about cookies and why they matter created by the Wall Street Journal.
  • Information about the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) offering opt-out of online behavior advertising and provides factual information about online behavioral advertising, privacy, cookies.

Health Privacy

Identity Theft Prevention & Clean Up

Mobile App Privacy & Security

Student & Educational Privacy & Security

  • I want to each online safety for Grades K-2,  Grades 3-5  Middle and High School Higher Education and CSave Volunteer Lesson Plans & Materials
  • The Protecting Privacy in Connected Learning toolkit is an in-depth, step-by-step guide to navigating the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and related privacy issues.
  • Securing Your Home Network
  • The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, is the main federal law that deals with education privacy, but there are a host of other laws, best practices, and guidelines that are essential to understanding education privacy. FERPA|SHERPA aims to provide service providers, parents, school officials, and policymakers with easy access to those materials to help guide responsible uses of student’s data.
  • General guidance for parents provided by the department of education Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
  • Student Privacy 101: FERPA for parents and students – Ever have questions about your rights regarding education records? This short video highlights the key points of the family education rights and privacy act (FERPA).

Other Resources 

About the Author

Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a practicing attorney and Managing Shareholder of Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C., a member of Stamer│Chadwick │Soefje PLLC, author, pubic speaker, management policy advocate and industry thought leader with more than years’ experience helping business and government organizations and their leaders manage. Ms. Stamer’s legal and management consulting work throughout her 28 plus year career has focused on helping organizations and their management understand and use the law and process to manage people, process, compliance, operations and risk including significant work in the prevention, investigation and remediation of data breach and other Cybercrime events.

Scribe responsible for leading the American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB) annual agency meeting with the Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil Rights,Scribe responsible for leading the American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (JCEB) annual agency meeting with the Department of Health & Human Services Cynthia Marcotte Stamer’s practice has focused on advising and representing government and private technology, security, health care providers, health plans, health, schools and other educational organizations, insurance, banking and financial services, retail, employer and other organizations about privacy and data security compliance and risk management, breach and other investigations and enforcement, workforce and performance management and other risk management, compliance, public policy, regulatory, staffing, and other operations and risk management concerns.

With data and technology use, protection and management imbedded in virtually every aspect of her client’s operations, data and other confidential information and systems use, protection, breach or other abuse investigation and response, enforcement and liability mitigation and defense and other Cybercrime and Cyber Security challenges are a continuous component of Ms. Stamer’s management work.  Ms. Stamer helps public and private, domestic and international businesses, governments, and other organizations and their leaders manage their employees, vendors and suppliers, and other workforce members, customers and other’ performance, compliance, compensation and benefits, operations, risks and liabilities, as well as to prevent, stabilize and cleanup workforce, data breach and Cybercrime, and other legal and operational crises large and small that arise in the course of operations.  Ms. Stamer regularly helps clients design, administer and defend HIPAA, FACTA, data breach, identity theft and other risk management, compliance and other privacy, data security, confidential information and other data security, technology and management policies and practices affecting their operations.   She also helps clients prevent, investigate and mitigate HIPAA, FACTA, PHI and other data breach hacking, identity theft, data breach, data loss or destruction, theft of trade secrets or other sensitive data, spoofing, industrial espionage, insider and other parties misuse of data or technology and other cybercrime and technology use concerns.  Best-known for her extensive work helping health care, insurance and other highly regulated entities manage both general employment and management concerns and their highly complicated, industry specific corporate compliance, internal controls and risk management requirements, Ms. Stamer’s clients and experience also includes a broad range of other businesses.  Her clients range from highly regulated entities like employers, contractors and their employee benefit plans, their sponsors, management, administrators, insurers, fiduciaries and advisors, technology and data service providers, health care, managed care and insurance, financial services, government contractors and government entities, as well as retail, manufacturing, construction, consulting and a host of other domestic and international businesses of all types and sizes.  Common engagements include internal and external privacy and data security compliance, risk management, investigation and remediation, workforce hiring, management, training, performance management, compliance and administration, discipline and termination, and other aspects of workforce management including employment and outsourced services contracting and enforcement, sentencing guidelines and other compliance plan, policy and program development, administration, and defense, performance management, wage and hour and other compensation and benefits, reengineering and other change management, internal controls, compliance and risk management, communications and training, worker classification, tax and payroll, investigations, crisis preparedness and response, government relations, safety, government contracting and audits, litigation and other enforcement, and other legal and operational compliance, risk management, disaster preparedness and response, and liability defense and mitigation concerns arising out of organization’s operations.

Cindy also is widely recognized for her regulatory and public policy advocacy, publications, and public speaking on privacy and other compliance, risk management concerns. Among others, she is the author of “Privacy & Securities Standards-A Brief Nutshell,” “Privacy Invasions of Medical Care-An Emerging Perspective,” the E-Health Business and Transactional Law Chapter on Other Liability-Tort and Regulatory;” “Cybercrime and Identity Theft: Health Information Security Beyond HIPAA;” “Personal Identity Management Legal Demands and Technology Solutions;” “Tailoring A Records Management Plan And Process To Meet Your Legal And Operational Needs;” “Brokers & Insurers Identity Theft and Privacy Perils;” “HR’s Role In Personal Identity Theft & Cyber Crime Prevention;” “Protecting & Using Patient Data In Disease Management Opportunities, Liabilities And Prescriptions;” “Why Your Business Needs A Cybercrime Prevention and Compliance Program;” “Leveraging Your Enterprise Digital Identity Management Investments and Breaking though the Identity Management Buzz;” “When Your Employee’s Private Life Becomes Your Business;” “Healthcare Breaches: How to Respond” and hundreds of other works. Her insights on privacy, data security, and other matters have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Business Insurance, the Dallas Morning News, Spencer Publications, and a host of other publications. She speaks and has conducted privacy training for the Association of State & Territorial Health Plans (ASTHO), the Los Angeles Health Department, the American Bar Association, the Health Care Compliance Association, a multitude of health industry, health plan, insurance and financial services, education, employer employee benefit and other clients, trade and professional associations and others.

Highly valued for her rare ability to find pragmatic client-centric solutions by combining her detailed legal and operational knowledge and experience with her talent for creative problem-solving, Ms. Stamer works with businesses and government organizations and their management, employee benefit plans, schools, financial institutions, retail, hospitality, and other organizations deal with all aspects of these and other operations performance and compliance management.  She supports her clients both on a real time, “on demand” basis and with longer term basis to deal with daily performance management and operations, emerging crises, strategic planning, process improvement and change management, investigations, defending litigation, audits, investigations or other enforcement challenges, government affairs and public policy.

Ms. Stamer also is active in the leadership of a broad range of other professional and civic organizations. For instance, Ms. Stamer serves on the steering committee and as a faculty member of the Southern California ISSA-HIMMS Annual Security Summit and Chaired its 2015 3rd Annual Health Care Privacy Summit.  Ms. Stamer presently serves on an American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Council representative; Vice President of the North Texas Healthcare Compliance Professionals Association; Immediate Past Chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Committee, its current Welfare Benefit Plans Committee Co-Chair, on its Substantive Groups & Committee and its incoming Defined Contribution Plan Committee Chair and Practice Management Vice Chair; Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group and a current member of its Healthcare Coordinating Council; current Vice Chair of the ABA TIPS Employee Benefit Committee; the former Coordinator and a Vice-Chair of the Gulf Coast TEGE Council TE Division; on the Advisory Boards of InsuranceThoughtLeadership.com, HR.com, Employee Benefit News, and many other publications.  She also previously served as a founding Board Member and President of the Alliance for Healthcare Excellence, as a Board Member and Board Compliance Committee Chair for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas; the Board President of the early childhood development intervention agency, The Richardson Development Center for Children; Chair of the Dallas Bar Association Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Committee; a member of the Board of Directors of the Southwest Benefits Association. For additional information about Ms. Stamer, see here, or the Stamer Chadwick Soefje PLLC website here.  To contact Ms. Stamer, e-mail her at here or telephone (469) 767-8872.

About Solutions Law Press, Inc.™

Solutions Law Press, Inc.™  provides human resources and employee benefit and other business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other coaching, tools and other resources, training and education on leadership, governance, human resources, employee benefits, data security and privacy, insurance, health care and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of Ms. Stamer’s publications our other Solutions Law Press, Inc.™ resources such as:

If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile here.

©2015 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Non-exclusive right to republish granted to Solutions Law Press, Inc.. All other rights reserved.

Leave a Comment » | data security, Health Care, HIPAA Cyber Crime, Privacy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Cynthia Marcotte Stamer

NLRB 29 Unfair Labor Practice Charges Against Community Health Systems, Inc. Shows Industry Labor Risks

October 19, 2015

A 29-count unfair labor practices complaint brought by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against national hospital giant, Community Health Systems, Inc. and seven of its hospitals (CHS), reminds other hospital and health care systems about the need to take steps to maintain and strengthen the defensibility of their own union organizing and other labor-management relations processes as well as to prepare for the added complication the necessity of dealing with a union could present to their ability to manage already complex compliance, employment and employee benefit and other responsibilities.

The consolidated complaint announced by the NLRB today (October 19, 2015) alleges that CHS and seven wholly owned subsidiary hospitals make up a single integrated employer that has violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by engaging in a series of unfair labor practices. Specifically, the complaint claims CHS violated employee rights by, among other things: maintaining rules that infringe on employees’ rights to discuss wages, hours, and working conditions with one another and to advocate for better treatment; making statements and taking actions against employees for participating in union activities; and failing to engage in good-faith collective bargaining with the unions the NLRB says employees have selected as their exclusive collective-bargaining representatives.

The complaint involves 29 charges filed against CHS hospitals by the following NLRB Regional Offices:

The consolidated complaint requests specific remedial relief, including: reimbursement for negotiation expenses; a make-whole remedy, including reinstatement, for employees who were the subject of discretionary discharges prior to any bargaining with the employees’ exclusive collective bargaining representatives; the reading and electronic transmission of a Notice to Employees; and a broad, corporate-wide cease and desist order given prior findings of serious unfair labor practices involving many of the facilities in the current matter. To avoid unnecessary delay and to conserve public and private resources, the General Counsel transferred all of these cases to Region 8, Cleveland, which issued the consolidated complaint. Absent settlement, the NLRB is scheduled to begin litigation in Cleveland on December 15, 2015.

The NLRB complaint against CHS is one of a growing number of actions where the NLRB, packed with Obama Administration appointees have gone after hospital or other health care employers as part of their broader pro-Labor agenda. See e.g., Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation of Mobile, Board Case No. 15-CA-68248 (reported at 357 NLRB No. 174) (6th Cir. decided August 15, 2013 under the name Kindred Nursing Centers East, LLC f/k/a Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation of Mobile v. NLRB).

These decisions should remind health care and other employers of the highly union-friendly bent of the NLRB under the current administration, as well as the hazards of mishandling efforts to defend against union organizing and other protected activities under the NLRA.  Beyond the obligation to recognize and bargain with properly certified collective bargaining unions, the NLRB and other federal labor laws also grant employees a host of other protections.  Among these are recently affirmed rights-even for a worker not represented by a union – to insist another employee be present when participating in disciplinary and certain other meetings with management, rules limit the ability of employers to prohibit or restrict employees requiring employees to keep confidential and not discuss among each other salary, wages or other terms of compensation or employment terms and conditions, and others.  The Obama Administration has made known its desire to expand these rights further and has carried out an aggressive legislative, regulatory and enforcement campaign in pursuit of this goal since taking office.  For this reason, health care or other organizations should seek the advice and assistance of qualified legal counsel experienced with labor management relations matters to review policies for compliance, to prepare and administer anti-organizing activities, and to evaluate and respond to union organizing or bargaining activities.

Amid these obligations and the pro-Labor enforcement attitude of the current administration, health industry organizations and their leaders must be prepared both to deal appropriately with labor-management relations organizing, bargaining and other obligations and to manage these responsibilities along with other critical compliance and operations management responsibilities. Beyond dealing with organizing and certification details, the recognition of a union also generally brings obligations for the employer to bargain on a wide range of matters. While most employers understand that this might include wages and benefits, it also includes bargaining about other terms and conditions of employment such as policies on compliance, investigations, discipline and a broad range of other concerns. For this reason, organization also can complicate compliance, risk management, financial and other critical management operations. Furthermore, union organizers and representatives often look for whistleblower or other opportunities to use compliance obligations as tools to strengthen bargaining or undermine employer credibility. For this reason, health industry and other employers targeted for organization or facing other labor-management risks should act early to tighten their compliance and manage risks in anticipation of the need to defend their actions in the event of a union organization or other action.

For More Information Or Assistance

The author of this article, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, is a Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization concurrently recognized a “Top” Health Care, Labor & Employment and ERISA/Employee Benefits Lawyer for her more than 28 years’ experience advising and defending public and private, rural and metro area hospital; health care system; nursing home; home health; rehabilitation; physical therapy; medical clinic; medical staff, physician practice group, independent practice association, and management services organization; staffing; HMOs, PPOs, ACOs, Medicare and Medicaid Advantage and other managed care organization; pharmacy; life sciences; durable medical equipment; allied health; health care technology; and other health industry clients.

As a Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law whose practice focuses on health industry clients, Ms. Stamer’s work throughout her career has included continuous involvement advising and representing health care organizations about employment, labor-management, peer review and staffing and other workforce management and compensation concerns.  Ms. Stamer also continuously advises health industry clients about compliance and internal controls, workforce and medical staff performance management and discipline; quality; governance; privacy, data security and breach; health care and other fraud prevention, risk management and defense; Medicare, Medicaid, managed care and insurance and other billing and reimbursement; safety and contagious disease; FDA; DEA; STARK, Fraud & Abuse, False Claims Act and other fraud prevention, investigation, remediation, and defense; managed care contracting and compliance; health care, insurance and other licensure and accreditation; managed care, government and other contracting and contract enforcement; antitrust; nonprofit and other general corporate and business matters and transactions; disaster preparedness and response; government audits and other enforcement; investigation and discipline; board and corporate governance; and other compliance, reengineering and change management, risk management, regulatory and government affairs, public policy and operations concerns.

Scribe for the ABA JCEB annual Technical Sessions meeting with OCR for the past five years, Ms. Stamer also is recognized for her extensive publications and programs including numerous highly regarding publications and programs on HIPAA and other privacy and data security concerns.

Ms. Stamer’s experience includes extensive involvement helping these and other health industry clients to establish, administer, and defend their practices and to conduct other dealings with the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Board of Medicine, Department of Insurance, NLRB, Department of Aging & Disability, Drug Enforcement Agency, OCR Privacy and Civil Rights, Wage and Hour and other Labor Department, Department of Defense,  Justice Department and state attorneys’ general, Department of Health and other health care industry regulators.

Recognized in the International Who’s Who of Professionals; Vice President of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association; founder and Executive Director of the Coalition for Responsible Health Policy and Project COPE: The Coalition on Patient Empowerment; Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section, Past Compliance Chair of the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas Board, Past Board President of the Richardson Development Center Early Child Intervention Agency (not Warren Center for Children) and a Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefits Council, the American Bar Association (ABA) and State Bar of Texas,  Cindy serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Insurance Thought Leadership, Employee Benefit News, HR.com, on the leadership of the ABA JCEB Council and several ABA Sections, and in many other professional and civic organizations and educational faculties, Ms. Stamer also is a prolific and popular lecturer and widely published author on health industry, labor and employment and other related concerns. She publishes and speaks extensively on health and managed care industry regulatory, staffing and human resources, compensation and benefits, technology, public policy, reimbursement and other operations and risk management concerns as well as conducts workshops and programs and publications on these and many other compliance, operational and risk management, and other health industry matters. Her insights on these and other related matters appear in the Health Care Compliance Association, Atlantic Information Service, Bureau of National Affairs, World At Work, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insurance, the Dallas Morning News, Modern Health Care, Managed Healthcare, Health Leaders, and a many other national and local publications.

For more information about Ms. Stamer and her health industry or other experience, see here or contact Ms. Stamer via telephone at (214) 452-8297 or via e-mail here. If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns from Ms. Stamer, register here.

About Solutions Law Press

Solutions Law Press™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, compensation, data security and privacy, health care, insurance, and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and other key operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of our other Solutions Law Press resources including:

©2015 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C.  Non-exclusive license to republish granted to Solutions Law Press.  All other rights reserved.  If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile here. For important information about this communication, see here.  THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER IS INCLUDED TO COMPLY WITH AND IN RESPONSE TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 230 REGULATIONS.  ANY STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN BY THE WRITER TO BE USED, AND NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN CAN BE USED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER FEDERAL TAX LAW, OR (2) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.  

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