When a hospital makes a decision to “close” a particular department or service line by entering into an exclusive contract or employment agreement for services, that decision could have a significant impact on pre-existing members of the medical staff. 

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Maraleen D. Shields has joined the Firm’s Healthcare and Litigation Groups. Her areas of concentration will include healthcare litigation including risk management, malpractice, medical staff matters, hospital fair hearings and healthcare business disputes. She will also provide general commercial litigation services.

Ms. Shields received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College, and her Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She recently worked at the law firm of Stevens & Lee, P.C.

Pennsylvania law requires physicians to maintain at least $500,000 in primary professional liability insurance coverage. The Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Fund then adds an additional $500,000 in excess coverage. When a medical malpractice claim arises, the primary insurance carrier will likely assign an attorney to the physician. It is rare that an insurance policy will give the physician complete autonomy to select counsel. This attorney will likely be part of the insurance company’s panel counsel routinely assigned medical malpractice claims. Under Pennsylvania law, the assigned attorney represents and owes a duty of loyalty to the physician. Despite assignment of counsel, there are still scenarios where a physician may want to consider hiring personal counsel.

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Due to a significant change in the policy for disclosure of physician payment information and data, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) can now release individual physician payment information to the public.

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