Joanne divides her practice between two major areas of the law -- health care law and private adoptions and surrogacies.

Transcription

1 Joanne R. Lax Member Family Law Health Care Bloomfield Hills, Education University of, A.B. with high distinction Phi Beta Kappa University of, J.D. magna cum laude Order of the Coif Admitted to Practice 1978 Joanne divides her practice between two major areas of the law -- health care law and private adoptions and surrogacies. Experience Health Care Law Practice Joanne represents health systems, hospitals, prepaid in-patient health plans, nursing homes, homes for the aged, assisted living facilities, hospices and home health agencies regarding: State and Federal Regulatory Compliance Licensure and Certification Medicare/Medicaid Conditions of Participation and provider enrollment Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) Americans with Disabilities Act, Fair Housing Act, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Civil Rights Regulations Vulnerable Adult Abuse Act and Elder Justice Act Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the HITECH Act of 2009 Human Subject Research and Clinical Trials Public Health and Mental Health Code facility licensure requirements Medical Records Access and Retention Facility Opening and Change of Ownership Development and implementation of compliance plans State and Federal compliance-related Administrative Litigation and Hearings Administrative Tribunal U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Departmental Appeals Board U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Medicare Appeals Peer Review Organization quality review hearings Patient Rights and Biomedical Ethics Ethics committees and ethics case consultation End of Life decision-making Surrogate decision-makers Medical privacy Recipient rights

2 Minors and Legally Incapacitated Individuals Examples include: Drafting a comprehensive Medicare compliance manual for a national health professional trade association Drafting a comprehensive HIPAA compliance manual for a national health professional trade association Defending nursing homes and nursing home professional staff against criminal charges of patient abuse/neglect Defending nursing homes and hospitals, including psychiatric hospitals, against Medicare/Medicaid, EMTALA, and licensure deficiency citations, civil money penalties, ban on admissions, loss of license, imposition of temporary manager, denial of payment for new admissions, Medicare/Medicaid de-certification, special focus facility designation, or closure. Informal meetings with MDCH and CMS Drafting plans of correction and credible allegations of compliance Drafting informal deficiency review requests Administrative hearings - particularly the Departmental Appeals Board ("DAB") Defending nursing homes against Medicare recoupment of paid claims Defending hospital clinical research programs against FDA investigations and deficiency citations Serving as legal advisor to two hospitals' Ethics Committees and performing ethics case consultations; Serving as legal advisor to a mental health provider's Recipient Rights Advisory Board and Appeals Board Private Adoptions and Surrogacy Joanne handles all aspects of adoption, surrogacy and assisted reproductive technology, including: Newborn adoptions (within and interstate) Intra-family adoptions Guardian adoptions Step-parent adoptions Adult adoptions Gestational surrogacies Traditional surrogacies

3 Egg donations Embryo "adoptions" Examples include: Representing birth parents, surrogate mothers, married and gay/lesbian adoptive couples, and single individuals in adoptions and surrogacies Defending against adoption revocations, rehearings and appeals Defending against birth father challenges to adoption Involuntary termination of birth parent's parental rights due to child neglect or abuse and adoption fraud Counseling adoption agencies about difficult adoption issues Counseling hospitals about their adoption responsibilities, and drafting a comprehensive adoption and surrogacy compliance manual for a national hospital system Defending adoption agencies against licensure deficiencies Seminars and Speeches 2/23/2011 Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Attorney-client privilege, attorney work product and confidentiality, American Health Lawyers Association Long Term Care and the Law, San Diego, CA 6/4/2010 Individual and Group Competencies in Ethics Consultation, Advanced Bioethics Workshop, William Beaumont Hospital, Troy, 4/20/2010 In the Crosshairs: The Intersection of Management Prerogative and Resident Demand Across the Continuum, Aging Services of 's 42nd Annual Conference and Trade Show, Grand Rapids, 4/7/2010 Legal Issues in Behavioral Care, Medical Education Services, Physician Development Network, Sterling Heights, 2/17/2010 In the Crosshairs: The Intersection of Management Prerogative and Resident Demand in Assisted Living Facilities, Skilled Nursing Facilities and Home and Community Based Service Programs, American Health Lawyers Association Long Term Care and the Law, Miami, Florida 10/2009 Planning for Pandemic Influenza, Teleconference Presentation for the Health Care Law Section, State Bar of 7/1/2009 Panelist - Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Practice of Health Law, American Health Lawyers Association, Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.

4 2/21/2009 Quality of Care: It's Not Just for Clinicians Any More, American Health Lawyers Association, Long-Term Care and the Law, Las Vegas, Nevada 2/27/2008 When Residents And Family Harass Staff: The Tightrope Between Regulatory Compliance, Risk Management And Employment Liability, American Health Lawyers Association Long Term Care and the Law, New Orleans, Louisiana 10/22/2007 Outbreak! What Happens When Robin Cook Isn't Fiction Any More?, AAHSA Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida 4/30/2007 Avian-Pandemic Influenza: Are Long Term Care Providers Prepared?, MAHSA 39th Annual Conference and Trade Show, Dearborn, 2/21/2007 Catastrophic Disease Preparedness & Response, American Health Lawyers Association Long Term Care and the Law Conference, Orlando, Florida 10/18/2006 Regulatory Update - Issues and Initiatives for Skilled Nursing Providers - Deficit Reduction Act, Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, East Lansing, 5/9/2006 CMS SNF/NF Survey and Certification Update, Association of Homes and Services for the Aging Annual Conference, Lansing, 2/15/2006 Treatment of Sex Offenders in Nursing Homes, American Health Lawyers' Association, Long Term Care and the Law Conference, Dallas, Texas 10/2005 Confidentiality of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and HIV information: HIPAA and beyond, Department of Community Health Office of Recipient Rights, 12th Annual Conference, Detroit, 5/2005 Long Term Care Survey and Certification Overview, Association of Homes and Services to the Aging Annual Conference, Battle Creek, 2/2005 Long Term Care Survey and Certification Overview, American Health Lawyer's Long Term Care and the Law Conference, San Diego, California 10/25/2004 Panel discussion of elder abuse, American Association of Homes and Services to the Aging Annual Member Conference, Nashville, Tennessee 2/19/2004 Legal and Clinical Approaches to Managing Disruptive Long Term Care Residents and Families - Suggestions for Avoiding Sanctions and Liability, American Health Lawyers Association, Long Term Care and the Law Conference, Orlando, Florida 10/23/2003 Hipaacolypse Now: Confidentiality of Mental Health Information in the Age of HIPAA - Department of Community

5 Health, Office of Recipient Rights, 10th Annual Recipient Rights Conference, Midland, 10/18/2003 "Adoption Process, Procedure and Pitfalls", Lorman Educational Services, Southfield, 10/16/2003 "Practical Law" Adoption in, Bloomfield Cable Television, Channel 15 7/20/2003 "Due Process Panel Discussion on HIPAA", WDIV, Channel 4, Detroit, 6/17/2003 "HIPAA and Marketing", Lorman Education Services, Flint, 5/12/2003 "Attorney Assisted Adoption", William Beaumont Hospital Fertility Center, Royal Oak, 3/19/2003 "HIPAA and Medical Billers", MPAA Region 2 Billers' Task Force, Warren, 10/5/2002 What Every Optometrist Should Know About The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, American Optometric Association, Medicare Carrier Advisory Committee, Baltimore, Maryland 10/3/2002 Confidentiality of Mental Health Treatment Records, Department of Community Health, Office of Recipient Rights, Lansing, 9/27/2002 Will Your Marketing Department Be Ready To Comply With HIPAA?, American Hospital Association, Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, Atlanta, Georgia 9/19/2002 What Every Hospital Should Know About The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act Of 1996, North Oakland Medical Center, Pontiac, 6/28/2002 What Every Optometrist Should Know About The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, American Optometric Association Annual Congress, New Orleans, Louisiana 5/2002 HIPAA Compliance: Understanding and Implementing the Privacy, Security and Portability Regulations, Lorman Education Services, Detroit, 2/22/2002 HIPAA Compliance: Understanding and Implementing the Privacy, Security and Portability Regulations, Lorman Education Services, Dearborn, 12/6/2001 Legal Developments in Long Term Care, Dykema Gossett PLLC, Detroit, 11/2001 Attorney Assisted Adoptions in, William Beaumont Hospital Fertility Center, Royal Oak,

6 10/2001 HIPAA Privacy Rules, Alliance of Healthcare Access Professionals, Frankenmuth, 5/2001 When is a Nursing Home Quality of Care Incident More Than Just a Quality of Care Problem?, Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, Grand Rapids, 2/2001 Developments Under EMTALA and the Skilled Nursing Facility Consolidated Billing Rules, Healthcare Financial Management Association, Midland, 2/2001 Criminalization of Long Term Care Quality Issues, American Health Lawyers Association Long Term Care and the Law, Las Vegas, Nevada 8/2000 Health Care Compliance, Lorman Education Services 6/2000 Long Term Care: An Industry Under Siege, Grand Rapids, 5/2000 Long Term Care: An Industry Under Siege, Detroit, [Information about pre-2000 presentations available upon request]. Publications "Long-Term Care Facility Licensure and Certificate of Need," American Health Lawyers Association (Contributing Author) (February 2009) "Community Pan-Flu Preparedness: A Checklist of Key Legal Issues for Healthcare Providers," American Health Lawyers Association and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Contributing Author) (June 2008) "Medicare Compliance Manual," American Optometric Association (August 2004) "The Sword and the Shield - Using and Surviving Litigation in Long- Term Care," Health Care Weekly (June 2003) "HIPAA Compliance Manual," American Optometric Association (December 2002) "The Modified HIPAA Privacy Rule: Final," Optometry (October 2002) "Privacy Rule Offers Limited Data Set Options," Optometry (September 2002) "Dipping Into The HIPAA Question Box," Optometry (August 2002) "Getting to the HIPAA Finish Line on Time and In Control," Optometry (July 2002) "Decide Now Whether to File for Extension on HIPAA EDI Compliance," Optometry (June 2002)

7 "HIPAA - the Government's Work in Progress," Optometry (May 2002) "Proposed Privacy Rule Changes," Optometry (May 2002) "HIPAA Privacy Rules: What They Are and What They Mean For Optometrists," Optometry (August 2001) Health Care Records Retention Manual, State Bar of - Contributor (September 1996) You?," Psychiatric Society Newsletter (July 1996) You?," Podiatric Profiles (February 1996) You?," The Optometrist (January 1996) You?," Oakland County Medical Society Professional Associations Ms. Lax is active in many organizations related to health care law and adoptions and surrogacy law. These include: State Bar of ( present) Health Care Law Section : Chair, Health Care Law Section : Chair-elect, Health Care Law Section : Secretary, Health Care Law Section 2005-present: Member Health Care Law Section Council : Chair, Provider Subcommittee of the Substantive Law Committee : Co-chair, Technology Subcommittee of the Substantive Law Committee Family Law Section Adoption Law Subcommittee Aging Services of, f/k/a Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (approx 1990-present) Member, Professional Development Committee LeadingAge, f/k/a American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (approx 2005-present) and Member, Core Legal Committee American Health Lawyers Association (approx 1990-present) 2008-present: Vice Chair, Long Term Care, Senior Housing, Inhome Care and Rehabilitation Practice Group 2008-present: Member, Advisory Council on Racial and Ethnic Diversity 2010-present: Member, Mentoring Committee Medical Ethics Resource Network (2011)