5.Overcoming the Legal Risks of New Media

8/14/2019 5.Overcoming the Legal Risks of New Media

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Overc om ing t he Legal

Elec t ron ic Com m unic a t ion

Jeffery P. Drummond

Jackson Walker L.L.P.

,Dallas, Texas 75202

(214) 953-5781

drummond@ w.com

www.hipaablog.blogspot.com


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.


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. . . the so-called Health 2.0applications such as information portals,

patient messaging, home healthapplications and personal health-recordsystems . . . .

-Modern Healthcare,

April 6, 2009


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Inform at ion Tec hno logypeople:

2010 definition:ogs

Microblogs (Twitter)Social Networks (Facebook, MySpace)

Video (Youtube)

Wikis


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Video webcasting of surgery

e ogg ng

Sick blogs Consultants using Web 2.0 (particularly blogs and

Twitter)


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e ac s a ea care mar e ers

cant just jump onto the Twitter

bandwagon without having a solid

strategy in place and also explainingclearly what theyre doing.

-- Glenna Shaw, Healthleaders Media, June 3, 2009


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Give me a break. Twittering

surgeries will quickly disappear as

notice of it.

-- Kerry Faunce, commenting on the same article


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patients perspective:

Privacy

Digni ty /Presentat ion

Mot ive (pub l ic educat ion or fami ly in format ion)

Care

as c nswer: u or za on


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publics perspective:

Who: o t her pat ient s , pot ent ia l pat ient s

At t i t ude :

Misinformed (surgeon drops his scalpel to tweet?)

Concerned (youre not tweeting about me, are you?)

Basic Answer: Education


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organizations perspective:

Legal

In t e l lec t ua l Proper ty

Const i tu t ional /organizat ional

Nonprofit organizations

Governmental entities

eputat on management


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HIPAA

pam

Advertising laws Responsibility for user-generated content

Ownership of content

SEC issues


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associates)?

How to avoid disclosures repor t ing

Marketin Restrictions


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Heal th c are provider

Doctor

Hospital

Other Heal t h Plan

Heal thc are Clear inghouse

Cont rac t s w i t h /serves Covered Ent i t y


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Protec t ed Heal th In format ion : In format ion about t hepast , present , or fu ture heal thc are condi t ion,

rea m en , or paym en s poss e o en y e

ind iv idua l from t he informat ion.

Basic Rule: Covered entities and businessassociates may not use or disclose PHI except for

specified purposes (for example, treatment or

payment) or with the individuals specificpermission.


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Fines and penal t ies

Pot ent ia l lega l dam ages

Publ ic repor t ing may be requ i red

Public Relations uses are not generally excepted So, patient authorization is required

Author izat ions have spec i f i c requ i rem ents ; m ak e

.


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conta ns spec c mar et ng restr ct ons

Geared more toward uses than disclosures


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Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited

CAN-SPAM Act):

Limits use of email addresses obtained by


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ec i f ic Le al Issues:Adver t is ing

Federal IssuesGeneral: FTC fair trade practices

Specific: FDA marketing rules

State Law issues:State DTPA and fraud statutes

State HIPAA or medical record laws

Rules of regulatory agenciesE.g., Board of Medical Examiners


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pec c ega ssues: ver s ng

General overridin issue: Advertisin ma not be false or

misleading. Does your Web 2.0 effort count as advertising?


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User-Generat ed Cont ent

Communications Decency Act of 1996: ISP c ompanies are genera l ly imm une f rom l iab i l i ty

for t h i rd-par ty c ont ent t hat appears on t he i r in t ernet

fo rum s or w ebsi tes .

ISPs that shape or d i rec t t he cont r ibut ions o f c on ten t may no t be subjec t t o the sa fe harbor.

Control your content, or make appropriatedisclaimers.


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Ow nersh ip o f Cont ent

Copyright: website content is copyrightable. Who owns the co ri ht to the content third

parties put on your site?

Are the orks for hire?

Protecting your own copyright

copyright of which is owned by another party


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SEC Issues

Regulation FD (fair/full disclosure): Information on com an website is likel a ublic

disclosure by the company for purposes of

Regulation FD If so, information posted on the website cannot

contain false or misleading information or omit

information necessary to make the informationprovided not misleading


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SEC Issues

Antifraud provisions: Antifraud rovisions a l to statements on

company websites

Previousl osted materials that remain availablearent necessarily republished for antifraud

purposes, but might need to be segregated on the

company website to avoid confusion.


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SEC Issues

Hyperlinks to third party sites: Sim l linkin does not mean endorsement

But, it could, even if you dont mean it

What your s i te says about t he hyper link

Whet her you have a d isc la im er

How t he hyper link i s p resented

Consider click-thru screens or exit notices


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SEC Issues

Company sponsored blogs:

Employees posting speak

for the company

Electronic Shareholder Forums Generally, information posted here is not considered to be

a company statement or disclosure, but could be if the

Consider disclaimers either way


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company (dont forget Web 1.0) K n ow w h at i s b ei n s ai d a bo ut o u f or c o m m e rc i al

react ion purposes

K now i f your c opyr ight ed mat er ial i s be ing breached

Be aw are t ha t fa i lu re t o do so migh t c onst i tu t e

adopt ion of the in format ion or s ta t ement s

your ow n people


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Cont ro l your w ebsi te

Cont ro l your o f f ic ia l ex t erna l Web 2.0 ac t iv i t ies

Gain author izat ion f rom pat ients t o avo id HIPAA

a n perm ss on or r -par y po en a y-

c opyr ight ed in fo rmat ion


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At le ast h igh-level and per iodic legal rev iew

Depending on operat ions, at least have approval of

forms, form at s , and post ing ru les

Appropr ia t e de legat ion o f aut hor i ty

Board approval


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, .

-, ,

Sued for malpractice , . ,

plaintiffs and their lawyer, disclosed defense trial

strate , and bad-mouthed the urors Plaintiffs lawyer exposed him during the trial as

Dr. Flea

Lindeman knew she would expose him to thejury, so he settled for a substantial sum


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Overc om ing t he Legal

Elec t ron ic Com m unic a t ion

Jeffery P. Drummond

Jackson Walker L.L.P.

,

Dallas, Texas 75202(214) 953-5781

drummond@ w.com

www.hipaablog.blogspot.com

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5.Overcoming the Legal Risks of New Media