Risk Management Publications

Announcing the 2019 CAPtivating Causes Community Hero and Community Leadership Award Winners

CAP is pleased to announce the inaugural Community Hero and Community Leadership Awardees, whose charitable service merits special recognition.

Following Up on First Impressions

Remember the exam-taking advice telling you to go with your first impression if no other answer seems to fit? Fast forward to your clinical practice today and that advice may still apply: At the least, be sure to follow through on your original suspicions when assessing a patient’s complaints. If you don’t, you’ve only helped a plaintiff attorney write his or her trial argument.

Security Cameras in the Medical Office

Security cameras have become part of the public landscape, but do they have a place in the medical office? This article will provide an overview of the issues connected with installing video cameras in the office and a framework for deciding whether such surveillance might fit your practice.

2020 California Healthcare Law Highlights

Governor Gavin Newsom’s very public budget focus on healthcare will gain statutory support in 2020 following a slate of healthcare funding bills passed by the Legislature. This article highlights many of the laws effective January 1, 2020, that will affect physicians, from the business operations of their medical office to actual patient care.

Let CAP Agency Take the Guesswork Out of Your Insurance

Are you trying to save a few dollars by buying your business owner, workers’ compensation, and auto insurance through various agents or insurance companies? You’re not alone — almost half of small business owners use more than one insurance market — but you may be putting your business at risk.

January, 2020

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December, 2019

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November, 2019

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New Evidence About Severe Pulmonary Disease Linked to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)

Electronic Nicotine Delivery systems (ENDS) are the newest emerging technology in the epidemic of novel tobacco products that has been spilling out of start-up companies for the last 13 years. So physicians wonder, “How should I respond when my patients seek advice about using these electronic devices?”

How to Respond to Patient Grievance Letters

What should you do when your office receives a grievance letter from a health plan and a written response is requested?

Refresher: Discontinuing the Patient-Physician Relationship

CAP's Hotline receives frequent calls requesting guidelines on discontinuing/terminating this patient-physician relationship, not because of wellness, but because the physician no longer desires to have the patient in his practice. From these calls, we have learned of "misunderstandings," which this article intends to clarify.

Who Must Sign a Death Certificate?

CAP member physicians frequently call our hotline with questions about completing a patient’s death certificate. Sometimes, they are reluctant to sign the legal document since they were not in attendance at the time of death. Other times, they inquire if their nurse practitioner or physician assistant can sign the death certificate for them.

How Long Do I Have to Keep My Patient’s Medical Records?

Here is the question asked most often on our risk management hotline: How long should our office retain patient medical records and billing information?

DEA Extortion Scams Resurface in California

A CAP member physician recently called our risk management hotline requesting help with a call from a Washington Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent. The caller demanded that she turn herself in to local law enforcement for writing fraudulent prescriptions and dealing drugs with the Mexican mafia.

An Expansion of the Rights of Minors Relating to Patient Records

California law provides that any adult patient and any minor patient authorized by law to consent to medical treatment, is entitled to inspect and request a copy of their medical record upon written request to the healthcare provider and payment of reasonable costs to make the record available. (California Health and Safety Code Section 123110)

Documenting Patient Return Visits and Following Up on Missed Appointments

As every patient visit concludes with a documented office visit encounter, the visit note should include when the patient is advised to return. It is important for the physician to document when a patient should return to the office and for what purpose.

Telephone Call Documentation

How does your office handle telephone messages from patients? Are they recorded in a telephone log? Added to the chart? How are physicians notified about the call? These are important questions because they affect patient outcomes and patient safety.

Four Ways to Improve Your Vendor Selection Process

So far this year, business associate breaches account for roughly 12 percent of the total breaches reported to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), or 27 of the 233 reported breaches as of September 19. What does this mean to a covered entity? It means that it’s not enough to require a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Vendors should be diligently vetted.

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