Insurance giant UnitedHealthcare is cracking down on unnecessary emergency room visits with a new policy starting July 1 that the American Hospital Association says will jeopardize patients’ health and threaten them with financial penalties.
The American College of Emergency Physicians said it fears the change will cause patients to avoid using emergency rooms because they will be responsible for their hospital bills when UnitedHealthcare rejects them.
UnitedHealthcare this month told its network hospitals in 34 states including Florida that it will assess emergency room claims to determine if visits were indeed medical emergencies.
Claims that are determined not to be tied to emergencies will be subject to no coverage or limited coverage based on the patient’s insurance plan, according to the insurer’s notice sent to hospitals. As many as 1 in 10 claims could be rejected, said Tracey Lempner, spokeswoman for the Minnesota-based insurer.
On June 3, 2021, the United States Supreme Court issued a 6-3 opinion in Van Buren v. United States, No. 19-783, resolving the circuit split regarding what it means to “exceed[].
Ivie Named to State Commission on Judicial Performance
By Cora Jackson-Fossett, Staff Writer
Published June 10, 2021
Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed prominent Los Angeles attorney, Rickey Ivie to the Commission on Judicial Performance. Newsom made the announcement on May 27.
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In this position, Ivie will serve as one of 11 commission members responsible for investigating complaints of judicial misconduct and judicial incapacity and for disciplining judges. According to ca.gov, the commission’s jurisdiction includes all judges of California’s superior courts and the justices of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
“I am honored that the Governor thought me worthy of an appointment to this distinguished and important commission,” said Ivie, a director and founding member of the multicultural law firm, Ivie McNeill Wyatt Purcell & Diggs (IMW).
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Under the Computer Fraud Abuse Act of 1986 (“CFAA”), anyone who “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access” and thereby obtains computer information commits a criminal offense. In
Van Buren v. U.S., 593 U.S. (June 3, 2021), a Georgia police sergeant, Nathan Van Buren, was authorized to use the department’s computer system to search automobile license plates. Van Buren agreed to accept payment from a man he met in return for running a license plate search on a woman the man purportedly met at a strip club. Unfortunately for the sergeant, the man was part of an FBI sting attempting to “see how far Van Buren would go for money.” Van Buren was convicted of violating the CFAA, and the case made its way to the United States Supreme Court. Van Buren argued that the “exceeds authorized access” clause of the CFAA applies only to those who obtain information to whic
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to review Mississippi’s 2018 policy, an act restricting abortion past the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. The current precedent for abortion legality was