In New York, Rivkin Radler hosts health law and compliance symposium

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About 75 legal and compliance professionals in the healthcare industry gathered on a recent Friday for a Rivkin Radler symposium at the New York City Bar Association in Manhattan.

This year marked the third annual “Health Law & Compliance Symposium” led by Rivkin Radler, which has offices in Uniondale, Manhattan and elsewhere.

“Healthcare providers confront challenges beyond the delivery of services to patients,” Evan Krinick, Rivkin Radler’s managing partner, told LIBN. “We’ve gotten very positive feedback from our healthcare clients that our annual program addresses their concerns.”

This year’s keynote speaker was Erin Ives, the first deputy Medicaid inspector general of New York’s Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG), delivering the speech, “Protecting the Integrity of New York State’s Medicaid Program: A review of OMIG’s Compliance priorities and key focus areas.”

The “Navigating a HIPAA Breach: A real-world simulation,” panel featured members of Rivkin Radler’s Incident Response Team (IRT) – a group of individuals responsible for taking immediate action in the event of a security incident. The team walked attendees through a fictitious HIPAA breach. They discussed the steps to remediate the resulting damage to infrastructure and reputation. Rivkin Radler partner Ashley Algazi moderated the panel, which featured Laurie Bloom, director of Marketing and Communications; Ahmed Ibrahim, director of Information Security, and Katie Lachter, general counsel. The team meets regularly to review processes and procedures to quickly address security incidents and ensure a coordinated recovery while minimizing damage to the organization and safeguarding sensitive data.

Benjamin Malerba, Rivkin Radler partner and head of its Health Services Practice Group, moderated the panel, “Telehealth: Emerging Issues.” The discussion focused on the legal and compliance issues presented by a new healthcare-delivery method that became widely utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists included Dr. Melynda Barnes, chief medical officer of Ro; Hassan Khan, technology consulting partner at Grassi; and Benjamin Ulrich, managing director at VMG Health.

The “Battlefield Intelligence: DOJ’s Latest Healthcare Enforcement Priorities,” panel was moderated by John Queenan, the partner in charge of the firm’s Albany office. The speakers identified key compliance issues for healthcare organizations to put on their radar based on the U.S. Department of Justice’s enforcement areas over the last several months. Queenan was joined by Geoffrey Kaiser, who heads the firm’s Compliance, Investigations and White-Collar practice, and Special Agent Katherine Teliska of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

After the formal program, participants joined the presenters for a luncheon, where they had the opportunity to have their questions answered.

Attendees were eligible to receive continuing legal education and compliance certification board credits.

Rivkin Radler hosted a similar program in September at the Crowne Plaza Albany-The Desmond Hotel, near the firm’s Albany offices. The firm also has offices in Poughkeepsie, as well as in New Jersey and Florida.