At a time when a health care provider’s mission is to deliver excellent patient care, but increased regulatory scrutiny and governmental oversight threatens to interfere, Lewis Thomason’s extensive experience in representing clients in the health care industry can help refocus a caregiver’s business.  Our attorneys provide comprehensive legal counsel and advice concerning complex and evolving privacy and security requirements for health care information, including defense of claims made under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and federal regulations developed under HIPAA.  Specifically, with the exponential increase in the use of electronic medical records systems, health care providers face more exposure to liability today than ever.

Lewis Thomason attorneys help health care clients manage the myriad of risks associated with providing medical services so that they can instead focus on their patients.  With our firm’s longstanding experience representing physicians of all specialties and subspecialties and their practice groups, nurse practitioners, EMTs, and long-term care providers in professional liability litigation, we understand the importance of loss prevention and risk mitigation in the health care industry.  We also help our clients with operations and overall compliance, information technology issues, employment disputes, immigration documentation, real estate, securities and tax, finance, and mergers and acquisitions in the health care industry.

Professional Liability

As professionals themselves, Lewis Thomason attorneys appreciate well that reputation means everything.  Given our experience representing health care providers, we also understand that medical professional liability claims, even non-meritorious, can significantly and negatively affect a caregiver’s reputation and finances.  For over 50 years, we have stood ready to aggressively protect and defend health care providers at both the trial and appellate levels from medical malpractice and negligence claims.  We also regularly provide professionals with legal counsel designed to avoid lawsuits.

Our attorneys represent a wide variety of medical care providers, including physicians of all specialties, physicians’ groups, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, EMTs, hospitals, and long-term care facilities.  Our aggressive approach keeps the majority of our cases from reaching trial.

Cybersecurity

Information technology is everywhere today, including in our hospitals and doctors’ offices, generally making life easier and less costly for both service providers and consumers.  Because of the risks of exposure of sensitive or private information, however, cybersecurity requires a dedicated team of lawyers who have experience with information security and privacy and its constantly changing rules and regulations.  Whether caused by a simple mistake, like an employee misplacing a USB drive, to intentional, like sophisticated cyber-attacks by external malicious actors, security breaches can range from a minor nuisance or inconvenience to a crippling critical event for a company.

Attorneys on Lewis Thomason’s cybersecurity team have experience in diverse industries, including health care, finance, education, and nonprofit.  Our firm helps clients navigate complex layers of federal, state, and international law, including data breach notification and privacy protection acts and accompanying regulations.  We take a multidisciplinary approach to effectively manage breach responses and mitigate losses resulting from a cybersecurity incident.  Our attorneys begin assisting our clients at the discovery of a data breach and guide them through the response stages to ensure that they meet legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations concerning the collection, use, transmission, storage, and destruction of data.

To minimize exposure to liability and mitigate reputational risk, Lewis Thomason provides cybersecurity services in two primary areas:  legal advisory and litigation and regulatory defense.  Legal advisory includes internal risk awareness and training, security policy development and review, incident response plan development and review, cyber insurance policy coverage consultation, and breach investigation and breach response management consulting.  Litigation and regulatory defense include representation in administrative actions and penalties arising from data breach and in traditional lawsuits.

Through our approach working closely with in-house technology departments, we help our clients manage and protect customers’ personal data, proprietary information, and other information assets.  We also rely on the expertise of a number of IT security service providers across Tennessee with which we have forged strategic relationships to proactively develop cybersecurity preparedness and responses to cybersecurity incidents.

Transactional and Regulatory

At a time of increasing consolidation in the health care industry, mergers, acquisitions, and other transactions present the opportunity to “right-size” a business or invest in health care enterprises of all stripes. Whether it’s the sale of a family medical practice, joint venturing for a de novo entity taking on a brand new endeavor, or a combination of large, existing health care systems, deal making in health care presents unique regulatory and transactional considerations. Lewis Thomason attorneys are well-versed in the details required to successfully consummate transactions and structure organizations in an area with heightened regulatory scrutiny at the local, state, and federal level.

In addition, our attorneys have experience in the day-to-day operations of health care companies and can offer salient advice to keep your company running smoothly and in regulators’ good graces. Our attorneys can help obtain and maintain necessary government approvals and licenses to run your medical practice, health insurance company, third party administrator service, management company, or otherwise.

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