A Miami federal grand jury recently indicted two people on charges they were paying kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries to generate business for their mental health counseling clinic in Doral. According to the indictment, Lorena Osella, 43 owned Lighthouse Community Center, LLC, which purported to offer psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) services, a type of mental health counseling to help people...
Earlier in the pandemic it was vital to see doctors over platforms like Zoom or FaceTime when in-person appointments posed risks of coronavirus exposure. Insurers were forced — often for the first time — to reimburse for all sorts of virtual medical visits and generally at the same price as in-person consultations. By April 2020, one national study found, telemedicine visits already accounted...
It is a common misconception that using a computer causes carpal tunnel syndrome. In fact, there is a near universal belief that technology gadgets can cause all sorts of hand problems. Both the lay public and most healthcare providers believe that entities such as “blackberry thumb” and “Nintendonitis” truly exist and that common hand problems such as flexor tendonitis and basal joint...
Many of my clients hesitate to report a potential incident or claim to their medical malpractice insurance carrier because they fear a cancellation notice or the loss of claims-free credits. Have you had or do you know of an incident, claim, or potential claim that you did not report to your current insurer? Not every concern needs to be reported; but, what happens if an incident is not reported...
Vaccination produces a much stronger and more consistent immune response than infection. Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment via Getty Images A few weeks ago, a message popped up in the corner of my screen. “What do you think about people who have recently had COVID–19 getting the vaccine?” A friend of mine was eligible for a COVID–19 vaccine, but she had recently gotten over an infection with...
As cold weather descended upon Washington, D.C., last fall, I deleted my dating apps. I had tried a few video-chat dates when the pandemic was new last spring. They were fun and novel at the time, and felt like a “quarantine experience.” By summer, I went on several physically distant dates in the park. But once the temperature started dropping, meeting outside lost its appeal. First dates are...
