The medical license lawyers of Little Health Law advise and advocate for physicians and other licensed healthcare providers whose livelihoods depend upon professional licenses and credentialing. Little Health Law is AV-rated by Martindale Hubbell and has offices in midtown Atlanta and in the downtown Medical District of Augusta, Georgia.
Our Medical Licensing Attorneys Protect Physicians
Our firm’s area of focus and expertise is healthcare law and representation of professionals. We represent physicians, physician groups, physician associations, numerous other licensed professionals, and healthcare businesses owners. We protect the professional and financial interests of healthcare providers. If you have an adverse event, risk or issue that concerns any aspect of credentialing or physician defense, contact us today.
Medical License Defense Attorneys
With extensive experience representing physicians and other professionals, a medical license defense attorney from our firm will provide high quality legal representation to every client, including, by way of examples, the following legal services include:
- Medical Board investigations and disciplinary actions
- Pharmacy Board complaints and disciplinary actions
- Violations of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act
- Federal Law enforcement investigations, including CMS, OIG, HHS, FBI and DOJ
- Medicare Fraud Investigations
- DEA investigations and suspension or loss of DEA registration
- Administrative hearings, license appeals and other administrative law matters
- Adverse NPDB reporting
- Suspension or loss of hospital privileges
- Peer review, disciplinary and adverse employment action by a hospital or medical practice
- Termination of employment
Professional Licensing Defense
Medical professionals, physicians especially, are subject to many potential actions and disciplinary processes with regard to the various licenses and board certification they may hold. Little Health Law’s medical license defense attorneys draw on extensive background and experience to protect the licenses of medical professionals. While much of our law practice is devoted to physician defense and representation, we also represent pharmacists, nurses, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse midwives, certified clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, counselors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers and others.
Medical Malpractice Defense
Medical malpractice defense protects healthcare providers from threats to their medical licenses. When someone files a malpractice claim, even if it lacks merit, it can trigger a medical board investigation that puts a physician’s license at risk. These are some medical malpractice claims that will require defense:
Childbirth Injuries
Childbirth injuries can result from inadequate prenatal care, improper use of delivery instruments such as forceps, or applying excessive force during delivery. These injuries may also occur if the umbilical cord becomes wrapped around the baby’s mouth, nose, or neck. Failure to recognize and promptly respond to signs of fetal distress, delays or failure to perform a necessary cesarean section, and mishandling, dropping, or shaking the newborn during or after birth can further contribute to serious harm.
Surgical and Procedural Errors
Surgical errors commonly include operating on the wrong body part, performing surgery on the wrong patient, or unintentionally leaving medical tools, gauze, or other materials inside the patient. Other critical mistakes involve improper administration or monitoring of anesthesia and failing to adhere to accepted medical standards before, during, or after surgery, all of which can have severe consequences.
Failure to Provide Appropriate Treatment
Medical errors also occur when patients are discharged prematurely, when healthcare providers fail to offer clear instructions for follow-up care, or when necessary medical tests are not ordered. Additionally, overlooking a patient’s medical history when prescribing medication or treatment can lead to inadequate or harmful care.
Medication and Prescription Errors
Errors in medication management arise when the wrong drug is prescribed for a condition or when the dosage is incorrect, either too high or too low. Other common issues include failure to detect dangerous drug interactions or allergic reactions, as well as missing signs of addiction, abuse, or overdose that may endanger a patient’s health.
Misdiagnosis and Delayed Diagnosis
Misdiagnosis can result from a physician’s failure to recognize key clinical symptoms, neglect to order necessary tests, or failure to refer the patient to a specialist. Additional diagnostic errors include mislabeled or lost test results, procedural mistakes during testing, and incorrect interpretation of diagnostic data, all of which can hinder accurate and timely diagnosis.
Professional Credentialing for Healthcare Professionals
Professional credentialing involves a giant data mess. Unfortunately, there is no single clearing house to handle all the information that all employers and third-party payers might need to conduct their due diligence by way of professional credentialing. For the physician, the process, though necessary and mostly unavoidable, can be cumbersome, time-consuming and full of professional hazards.
All hospitals, insurers and other entities desire, of course, to ensure that their physicians are qualified, competent and have proper training for the purpose the physician will serve. This process, most often referred to as “credentialing,” can be taxing and lengthy, often taking more than three months to complete the submission of initial and supplemental paperwork and correspond with an entity’s credentialing department. For the physicians and other medical professionals, the process can also be hazardous professionally, as a problem raised in the credentialing process with one entity can have a domino effect that impacts credentialing with other entities.
Hospital Credentialing
Hospital credentialing usually begins with an application to practice at the hospital and submission of curriculum vitae and similar documentation (e.g., medical degrees, residency certificates). The applicant will typically include professional references and be required to disclose pertinent negative events (e.g., termination due to competency; criminal offenses).
Most physicians, either due to employment or the needs of private practice ownership, find that they must participate in the networks of third-party payers. The process of insurance credentialing typically involves evaluation of a doctor’s education, training, residency, licenses and any specialty certifications. This undertaking often includes assembling complete information about a physician’s background and qualifications; checking information about the same provided by the physician against independent, reliable sources, such as the National Practitioner Data Bank; communicating with State licensing boards and departments to confirm there are no limitations on the physician’s license; review of medical malpractice claims history; review of hospital privileges history; and confirming all aspects of relevant training. Third-party payers may review physician credentials on a routine schedule for all physicians in the payer’s network.
Government Payer Credentialing
Government payer credentialing (e.g. Medicare and Medicaid) is a similar but different process. Generally speaking, all payors want to make sure, as much as possible, that they are paying real, qualified, licensed professionals for legitimate billing. The requirements for credentialing with government payers is not the same as private payers, though there may be overlap in some requirements.
Call Us Today for Help from an Experienced Healthcare License Defense or Credentialing Attorney
We strive for excellence in protecting our physician clients and advocating for their best interests. To schedule a confidential consultation with an experienced medical license defense attorney or lawyer to assist with credentialing, email us at info@littlehealthlaw.com or contact us today.