Our President’s Message

Meet Your New President Marilyn McDonald RN, BA, CCM, LNCC, CNLCP

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!.  I cannot believe that it is already 2010!  I am looking forward to serving as GSAC president this year with the goals of continuing to educate the legal arena about Legal Nurse Consulting, providing educational events, sharing of expertise of Legal Nurse Consultants and increasing our membership. This year we are planning some new and innovative projects including “online board and conference meetings” to better serve our members, which are located all over Northern and Central California and in Eastern Nevada. By scheduling some of the meetings online, we can better reach those with long commutes as well as those with busy schedules allowing members to attend meetings from their personal offices or from home. The Executive Board is busy investigating and streamlining the conferencing sites. Also planned is to investigate the possibility of videotaping conferences with GSAC and BACNC and allowing purchase of the CDs for those who cannot attend. In addition, we have some special programs in the works for 2010 including participation in the Mock Trial with McGeorge School of Law, an Educational Cruise and an ongoing “Tools of the Trade” program from our experienced LNC’s. Don’t forget our Annual Holiday Party at the end of the year, which is an event not to be missed! Thank you to the Executive Board and the Directors at Large for your participation and support of our organization. I encourage all members to actively participate and to continue the valuable work of supporting each other, networking and assisting new members to pursue a career in Legal Nurse Consulting.  

Sincerely,
Marilyn McDonald RN BA CCN LNCC CNLCP

Life Care Planner/ Legal Nurse Consultant
2010 GSAC-AALNC President

Member Activities:

She was recently acknowledged as a contributor to the Emergency Nurses Association Injury Prevention Institute’s publication entitled” Safer Medication Use: Health Care Professional Manual.  The module focuses on nursing practice, providing education about the causes and risk factors that contribute to adverse side effects of medications specifically among older adults.  It includes information for nurses to educate emergency department and community members on safe medication practice. 

Mariann contributed to 3 recent publications of Emergency Nursing: A Monthly Clinical Update on Emergency Nursing.  She was approached regarding her expert emergency nursing knowledge and offered clinical input on topics in the monthly publication where she was quoted in the following articles: Is There a ‘Suit Waiting to Happen’ in the Waiting Room (July 2009); Should You Document A Patient’s Exact Words, (October, 2009); Do You Need To Refuse an ED Physician Order?, When in Doubt Contact the Pharmacy, and You Need to Follow Chain Of Command: (January, 2010).  Stay tuned for more of her publication and editorial contributions in the near future.

Welcome Newest Members!

It’s a new year and our membership has started out well.  We welcome the return of our members and look forward to 2010’s newest members.

Please feel free to go to our Members listing and learn more about all our members.

http://www.gsac-aalnc.org/Pages/MembersListing.aspx

Past Events:

October 6, 2009

Ken Braunstein. 

Expert Witness Preparation and Responsibility

     The educational by Ken Braunstein was very worthwhile and informative. I believe I had met him once before when we were attending a CE class at the Hilton.  We were sitting at the same lunch table.   Bev Skinner

As always our guest speaker was very educated on his topic and did well to entertain and educate us all during his presentation.  It was a pleasant evening with good food and great company.  We look forward to listening to Ken Braunstein in the future.   Teresa R Cox

December 5, 2009  Holiday Party at Aura's

What a great event this Christmas party was.  Aura's did a wonderful job as our venue, the food was great as was the service.  We took our time ate, socialized, listened to good music, our own bar and bartender what a treat.  A wonderful way to close out the year of 2009 and kick off 2010.  We missed every one of you who were unable to attend.  But what a wonderful event.     Teresa Cox

This was the best year-end party we’ve had in years. Thanks to Teresa Cox for (almost) single-handedly planning and preparing the entire event. The location was fabulous and the plethora of food unbeatable. We managed to play a few games (that weren’t hoakie), and enjoyed all of the visiting and networking. There were the tried-and-true long-time members and some new members as well. My vote is for the same venue next year!!! Melony Carlton.

2009 President Melony Carlton & Teri Tift           Muffy Ratto and son Aura's Chef Paul            2010 President Marilyn McDonald and President Elect Teresa Cox

        The pary is just starting.                                                  Muffy Ratto and Marge Patzer                 Ruth Swiggum & Ann Noder and guests

Upcoming GSAC-AALNC Events:

Calendar pending

 Watch our website for more details:  http://www.gsac-aalnc.org/Pages/MemberEvents.aspx

Other Local Meeting Dates and Educationals

The California Nursing Law Center is now offering: Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC) program.   This course is co-taught by Mitzi Wortman, RNC, LNCC. She also teaches in the paralegal program at S.F.S.U. She is currently President of the Bay Area Chapter of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, and spoke at their national convention this year.

This 3 day course includes:   

• 3 days of live training,
• a home study portion,
• one-on-one mentoring,
• prepares you to take national certification exam

Register for the February 25-27, 2010 course and join this exciting new field of nursing! 
For all the information go to:  http://www.californianursinglaw.com/

The Sacramento County Bar Association

Justice Sims’ MCLE presentation:

“Summary Judgment From A to Z”

Saturday, February 27, 2010

9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Downey Brand

621 Capitol Mall, 18^th Floor

Sacramento, CA 95814

 

SCBA Members: $30

Non-SCBA Members: $50

RSVP: reception@sacbar.org

3 hours MCLE credit pending 

 

Sacramento County Public Law Library
813 Sixth Street, 1st Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916.874.8541
Fax: 916.874.5691
www.saclaw.org

AALNC 2010 National Educational Conference
Invest in Yourself
March 24-27, 2010
Westin Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA

Conference Objectives

• Integrate new approaches and techniques into the LNC's everyday practice.
• Recognize and discuss current trends and controversies in the medical and legal fields.
• Network with other medical and legal professionals

http://www.aalnc.org/conf/2010/index.cfm

More Educational Opportunities:

Bay Area Chapter

May 16, 2010                 Topic TBA                   San Francisco Marriott, San Francisco, CA

September 29, 2010     Topic TBA                   San Francisco Marriott, San Francisco, CA

November 17, 2010      Topic TBA                   San Francisco Marriott, San Francisco, CA

For more information please go to:  www.bacnc.org/information.html 

Orange County Chapter

2010 Meeting Location

Doubletree Club – OC Airport

7 Hutton Centre Drive

Santa Ana, CA

Directions:  55 freeway – exit west to MacArthur Blvd., left turn (south) at MacArthur Place, left turn on Sandpointe Ave., and drive into the free parking lot.

For more information and registration:  www.aalnc-orangecounty.org/calendar.htm

San Diego Chapter

February 18, 2010

Judi McCarter, MT, AA, BS

Research, Experimentation and Exploitation of Human Cadavers

Bioethics Legal Focus Presentation

 

All meeting times are as follows:

5:30 – 6:00 Registration and Dinner

6:00 – 7:00 Educational Presentation

7:00 – 7:30 Q & A, Networking, Adjourn

All Thursday meetings held at Sharp Specturm:

8695 Spectrum Center Court

San Diego, CA  92123

CEU’s will be provided at the end of each meeting.  MCLEs are provided for select presentations.

For more details:  http://www.aalncsandiego.org/education.html

Small Business Tax Workshops

Virtual Small business Tax Workshop is composed of nine interactive lessons designed to help new small business owners learn their tax rights and responsibilities.

http://www.tax.gov/virtualworkshop/

LNC tips of the trade:

Looking for an Expert

First, when you are looking for an expert, remember that there are articles of interest that pertain to your case. For instance, if you are looking for a particular disease and its standards of care, remember to look to the professionals who write those articles and email them if you can. A quick search on Google usually renders an email or at least a phone number you can call for contacts. Another way to obtain experts is from the University hospitals. I love to go into the University hospitals and find the director of a particular unit and ask them questions. Typically they answer too! I have made some interesting friends talking and conversing via email even prior to having a case where I can use them. To keep your experts straight and the areas they focus on, make folders to the left of your outlook and I just call the folder "experts" and when I see someone post who is very good, I make sure I add their post and their email to that folder. There is another way to find experts. That is to turn to the books of teaching. These come from Lippincott or one of the publishers who is known to you. Look to the front of the book, run a Google search and you will find an expert who is appropriate for your case. Sometimes, there are unusual diagnoses and those can make finding an expert a challenge. Still, if you turn to the articles of authority, you may be able to find an article of a "like case" these are yet another area to find experts and find people that you can speak with perhaps asking questions. For those of you who don't know what a like case is, it is a case where you have done the research and found that the case is similar (there are very few firsts in law). For instance, say you have a product liability case and you really need a biological engineer, but don't know where to turn. Well, what is your case about? Put that into Google, then run a quick search like this. Soap, Steris, Sterilization or machine.....you will turn up all sorts of things. Linked in is a perfect place to find a biological engineer and in those cases, I just do a search in Linked in and it produces literally thousands of them. I try to find the appropriate one and just drop them an email. Now, we have looked at finding an expert, but what do you do after you get them? Well, I typically try to give the attorney at least three. Let him interview and decide which he likes to work with, which one he feels is appropriate for the case. Prior to providing those three CV's I also do a quick background check to see where they come from, make certain their license is unencumbered and then, send that along with the CV. I don't make any guarantees though. Stay far away from that and make the decision his. I think you will be on the right path.

Claire Hull, RN, CCM, CLNC
919-858-0417
www.thejerklnc.com
Juris Educational Resource Knowledge for Legal Nurse Consultants

A new Directory, which you may find quite useful.

Our new SEAK, Inc. National Directory of Medical File Review Consultants is an excellent resource if you or your colleagues are tasked with locating physicians to perform file reviews. The Directory is free to search.

The Directory contains over 275 board certified physicians (indexed by States of licensure) who are available to perform:

What’s happening today: 

In the news: 

Scientists produce potential Alzheimer’s disease treatment of the cocktail variety

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, January 14, 2010

A nutritional cocktail, called Souvenaid, is believed to help restore the synapses (the junctions between neurons or between a neuron and muscle) in a person’s brain. The recent development could prove to be extremely beneficial to people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, as research shows a correlation between low numbers of synapses and memory impairment, according to CNN.

The drink, known as a "medicinal food" because it is authorized by a physician and is intended to affect a specific condition, contains uridine, choline, and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA. All three nutrients already exist in the human body, but it is their interaction in the correct proportions that’s believed to produce the proteins required for the restoration of synapses, based on the study co-authored by Dr. Richard Wurtman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Future clinical studies involving Souvenaid and Alzheimer’s patients are planned to gain a better understanding of the cocktail’s capabilities.

http://www.hcpro.com/LTC-244862-4564/Scientists-produce-potential-Alzheimers-disease-treatment-of-the-cocktail-variety.html

Swine Flu Pandemic May Be Less Severe Than Expected

TUESDAY, Dec. 8 (HealthDay News) -- A new joint American-British study suggests that the impact of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic during the autumn-winter flu season will be less severe than had been feared.

"As more detailed data have become available, we have been able to improve our estimates of how severe this disease is. Early on, it was difficult to measure the flu's impact and it was crucial to plan for the full range of possible outcomes. Fortunately, the virus now appears to be near the milder end," study senior author Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, said in a news release.

"This is a serious disease," he added. "The CDC and others have shown that certain high-risk groups, including pregnant women, people with asthma and people with compromised immune systems, should be vaccinated and should seek prompt treatment if they suspect they are sick with H1N1. Even for people outside these high-risk groups, vaccination is an important way to reduce the risk of what can be a serious illness."

The study is published in the Dec. 7 online edition in the journal PLoS Medicine.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/12/08/swine-flu-pandemic-may-be-less-severe-than-expected.html

Attorney General's News Release

December 3, 2009

Springfield man pleads guilty to 12 counts of Medicaid fraud

According to Koster, Louderback furnished applications with false information to the Missouri HIPP program, a Medicaid program that pays for the private health insurance premiums for certain individuals with high medical costs. He represented that the monthly insurance premium rates were greater than they actually were and then pocketed the overpayment. Koster said Louderback also offered a kickback to people to get them to enroll in an insurance program, fraudulently misstated an insurance company's rate, and then forged documents to set out the false rate Louderback pleaded guilty to 5 counts of Medicaid fraud, 1 count of offering a kickback to receive a Medicaid payment, 4 counts of insurance fraud, and 2 forgery counts.

Louderback is a prior and persistent offender, having pleaded guilty in December 2000 in Laclede County to the felony of Passing a Bad Check and in June 2004 in Greene County to the felony of Stealing. As a prior and persistent offender, Louderback could be sentenced to an extended prison term when he faces sentencing February 26

http://ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2009/Insurance_broker_pleads_guilty_to_Medicaid_fraud/

SIOUX CITY HOSPITAL TO PAY $400,000 TO RESOLVE FALSE CLAIMS ALLEGATIONS

December 2, 2009

Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa, has agreed to pay the United States $400,000 to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by inflating charges for heart patients’ care in order to receive money to which it wasn’t entitled

The settlement resolves allegations that Mercy inflated charges for Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, and Federal Employees Health Benefits Program heart patients to obtain additional reimbursement from those federal health care programs. Congress provided for additional payments, called outlier payments, to provide an incentive for hospitals to treat patients when the cost of care is unusually high.

In a settlement agreement, Mercy denied any wrongdoing but agreed to pay the United States $400,000 to settle the government’s claims 

http://www.justice.gov/usao/ian/press/Dec_09/12_2_09_Mercy.html

Omnicare to pay $98 million to settle kickback charges

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly,

November 5, 2009

The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that Omnicare Inc., which faced charges involving kickback arrangements with several nursing homes and pharmaceutical companies, will pay $98 million to settle outside of court, according to The Wall Street Journal.

One of those pharmaceutical companies, IVAX Pharmaceuticals, a unit of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., has agreed to pay $14 million to settle its involvement in a kickback scheme with Omnicare, which disputed the Justice Department’s findings in a written statement. Johnson & Johnson is also alleged to have been involved in the kickbacks. According to the Justice Department, Omnicare’s apparent actions resulted in false Medicare and Medicaid claims

http://www.hcpro.com/LTC-241692-4564/Omnicare-to-pay-98-million-to-settle-kickback-charges.html

ev3 Endovascular, Inc., Trailblazer Support Catheter

http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/RecallsCorrectionsRemovals/ListofRecalls/ucm196234.htm

Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., ViperSheath Sheath Introducer

Class 1 recalls are the most serious type of recall and involve situations in which there is a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious injury or death. 

http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/RecallsCorrectionsRemovals/ListofRecalls/ucm189467.htm 

Kohl, Kajal, Al-Kahal, or Surma: By Any Name, a Source of Lead Poisoning

One color additive of particular concern is kohl. Also known as al-kahl, kajal, or surma, kohl is used in some parts of the world to enhance the appearance of the eyes, but is unapproved for cosmetic use in the United States. Kohl consists of salts of heavy metals, such as antimony and lead.

An FDA Import Alert cites three main reasons for detaining imports of kohl:

For containing an unsafe color additive, which makes the product adulterated.

For labeling that describes the product falsely as "FDA Approved."

For lack of an ingredient declaration.

Some eye cosmetics may be labeled with the word "kohl" only to indicate the shade, not because they contain true kohl. If the product is properly labeled, you can check to see whether the color additives declared on the label are in FDA's list of color additives approved for use in cosmetics, then make sure they are listed as approved for use in the area of the eye.

Sunlamps and tanning beds promise consumers a bronzed body year-round, but the ultraviolet (UV) radiation from these devices poses serious health risks.

“A tan is the skin’s reaction to exposure to UV rays,” says Miller. “Recognizing exposure to the rays as an ‘insult,’ the skin acts in self-defense by producing more melanin, a pigment that darkens the skin. Over time, this damage will lead to prematurely aged skin and, in some cases, skin cancer.”

Two types of UV radiation that penetrate the skin are UV-B and UV-A rays.

• UV-B rays penetrate the top layers of skin and are most responsible for sunburns.
• UV-A rays penetrate to the deeper layers of the skin and are often associated with allergic reactions, such as a rash.

Both UV-B and UV-A rays damage the skin and can lead to skin cancer. Tanning salons use lamps that emit both UV-A and UV-B radiation.

Development of cancer is a long process that may take decades. Therefore, IARC also recommended banning commercial indoor tanning for those younger than 18 years to protect them from the increased risk for melanoma and other skin cancers.

IARC’s conclusions and recommendations were based on its 2006 review of 19 studies conducted over 25 years on the use of indoor tanning equipment.

Other Risks

In addition to the serious risk of skin cancer, tanning can cause:

• Premature aging.
• Immune suppression
• Eye damage.
• Allergic reaction.

For the complete article: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm186687.htm

Medicare & Medicaid Informational tid-bits!

Q&A: Certifying your compliance with HIPAA security standards

Compliance Monitor, December 9, 2009

Q: Does CMS require organizations certify they are compliant with the HIPAA security standards?

 A: There is no standard or implementation specification that requires a covered entity to certify compliance. The evaluation standard § 164.308(a)(8) requires covered entities to perform a periodic technical and nontechnical evaluation that establishes the extent to which an entity’s security policies and procedures meet the security requirements. The covered entity or an external organization that provides evaluations or “certification” services may perform an internal evaluation. A covered entity may make the business decision to have an external organization perform these types of services. It is important to note that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) does not endorse or otherwise recognize private organizations’ “certifications,” and such “certifications” do not absolve covered entities of their legal obligations under the Security Rule. Moreover, performance of a “certification” by an external organization does not preclude HHS from subsequently finding a security violation.

Small Business Owner Information and Tips

IRS.gov:

Beginning Jan. 1 the standard mileage rates are:

• 50 cents per mile for business miles
• 16.5 cents per mile for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile in service of charitable organizations

Online Privacy Policies
In the world of online business, privacy policies are a must. The increased frequency of identity theft, online fraud, and spamming all heighten customer insecurities when shopping online. A good privacy policy can be instrumental for business owners attempting to ease customer concerns and solidify their reputation as a trusted online retailer. Here are a few key points that every business should remember when creating their privacy policy.

AALNC General Information: