SECTION spotlight
Health Law Section:
A
By Kimberly A. Chojnacki
Pandemic-era Programming
s it has for most of us, 2020 has presented unique challenges and opportunities for the Health Law Section. The section typically is a space for health law practitioners to network, share resources, and support each other’s practices. This year, however, the section is faced with a changing health law landscape with limited (if any) opportunity to come together for in-person programming or meetings. Yet that hasn’t stopped them from taking the lead in this particularly health-focused bar year to provide the resources we all need to assist our clients and, in some instances, ourselves as we navigate this pandemic. COVID-19 has required shifts in a number of health law areas because it has presented previously unseen and, in fact, unimagined scenarios that healthcare providers have had to navigate on the spot. “One thing[, for example,] that is getting heightened focus is that there are some things HIPAA doesn’t cover that patients believe it should cover. They think there is an expectation of privacy around certain information and really the law doesn’t require that sort of privacy,” says Sara Brinkmann, the chair-elect of the Health Law Section. “The issue isn’t what you’re required to do to cover yourself under HIPAA, but also what is the best practice to ensure patients feel comfortable in how their data is handled.” These types of twists on previously well-known health law topics are the focus of the Health Law Section’s programming this bar year. At the end of August, for example, the section hosted “Updated Federal Guidance on HIPAA Compliance Issues in providing COVID-19 Treatment,” a discussion with Hanly P. Funderburk, an investigator with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. As its title suggests,
the program was driven by the unique challenges the pandemic has presented regarding HIPAA, patient care, and privacy. Telemedicine is another area the pandemic has transformed. Telemedicine is not a new resource for practitioners or patients. In fact, it has been around for decades. However, the pandemic has pushed forward—in earnest—the reliance on telemedicine for patients who don’t necessarily need in-person examination by a physician for diagnosis and treatment. The Health Law Section will be devoting an entire program to this topic as more seek to understand the nuanced legal challenges it presents, such as prescription authority and reimbursement rules. The balance of the section’s programming this year will focus on the “nuts and bolts” of health law in the age of a pandemic. Presentations will include investigations and compliance; the intersection of legal and compliance from the perspective of a compliance and ethics officer; IT, healthcare, and privacy; and a year in review, all through the lens of COVID-19. Tucked in between their programs will be the section’s annual happy hour, currently set for October 22. As with most things this year, it is subject to change based on COVID-related developments. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Health Law Section, or for more information about the programs planned this year, please visit hba.org/healthlaw. Kimberly A. Chojnacki is an associate editor of The Houston Lawyer. She also is a litigation associate at Baker Donelson in Houston. She represents corporate clients in eminent domain proceedings, complex commercial litigation, and insurance defense disputes. thehoustonlawyer.com
September/October 2020
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