"'The More Integrated You Are, the More Independent You Are," Rick Cooper quoted in Hospitals and Health Networks

February 11, 2015

News

PHOENIX — On Day 2 of the Rural Health Care Leadership Conference, keynote speaker Pamela Knecht challenged attendees to rethink the governance skills suitable for today’s increasingly integrated health care dynamic. In what would ideally be a “continuum of care,” she said, leaders must work more collaboratively throughout their industries and democratically within their organizations to truly integrate their services.

Knecht may have been this close to preaching to the choir — rural hospitals are all but forced to adopt collaborative mindsets and think outside the box these days. Richard Cooper, chair of the National Healthcare Practice Group of the law firm McDonald Hopkins, noted that rural trustees tend to be fiercely invested in their hospitals’ operations and are no strangers to “rolling up their sleeves and getting hands-on” with their duties.

“Rural board members are much more willing [than their non-rural counterparts] to get involved,” Cooper said. “Once a problem has been identified, that characteristic of a rural board can actually be an asset to getting it solved.”

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Over the past 24 months, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has brought notable enforcement efforts against several non-profit covered entities and business associates, resulting in instances of six and seven-figure penalties against providers across the county for incidents involving breaches of protected health information.

A new amendment to New York state law, which would have required all healthcare providers to obtain separate consents from patients for treatment and payment is on hold until further guidance is released, according to the New York Department of Health.

On November 1, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule 2025 final rule, which establishes new advanced primary care management billing codes that will expand opportunities for physician practices, federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics and other health care providers to get paid for services provided by clinical staff under the direction of a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant beginning January 1, 2025.

"'The More Integrated You Are, the More Independent You Are," Rick Cooper quoted in Hospitals and Health Networks

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