If you run or manage a pharmacy or dispensary, then it’s vital you take steps to ensure you are in compliance with all legal regulations. Otherwise, you could be at risk for unknowingly violating medical laws, subjecting yourself to possible fines and other penalties. To protect patients, legislators are making increasingly complex laws, but it’s not always easy to keep up with the most recent changes. Inability to follow each regulation could potentially result in harsh legal consequences related to fraud or privacy violations. Depending on the severity of the case, these problems could cause a company to go out of business. If you want to protect yourself from these issues, then you need to educate yourself and stay updated on any amendments to current laws. You can do that by researching online and going to your local library on a regular basis.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act plays a vital role in the health care system. It actively prevents fraud and helps people maintain their insurance coverage when they decide to change jobs or career paths. It also serves to protect a patient’s confidential health information from being shared with third parties. But you must keep in mind that violating HIPPA laws can impact your business in a negative way. So, all pharmacies and dispensaries must take steps to ensure they are compliant at all times. It’s also important you educate your employees so that they don’t accidently compromise sensitive health information. You must keep all sensitive files in a secure location and put passwords on each of your computers. Although violating HIPPA standards can be disastrous, staying vigilant can help keep you safe.

Stark Law

The Stark Law was put in place to help protect patients from receiving advice that does not take their best interests into consideration. It prevents any doctor from referring a patient to certain health services if doing so will result in financial gain. Although most doctors have no intention of violating this law, it’s possible to do so without knowing. For example, referring a patient to a company in which you own stocks means you are in violation. To protect themselves from legal trouble, some doctors never opt to invest in any medical or health services.

Audits

All pharmacies and dispensaries are subject to being audited at any time, and it’s essential all of your information and records are accurate so that you can maintain the reputation of your business. Failing an audit can be a painful experience for anyone. Even when you stay educated on the latest laws, it’s still easy to forget or miss a small detail, which can be more costly than you might suspect. Those who exercise extreme caution can even find themselves on the wrong side of the law, and only someone who specializes in medical law can help protect you from these disastrous situations.

Consequences

Most people don’t consider the consequences of these legal problems until it is too late. At that point, their businesses and their reputations are usually damaged beyond repair. In some cases, a single violation can result in fines of up to $1.5 million, which is catastrophic. In addition to fines, a pharmacy or dispensary could have its license pulled for not being in compliance. Even if a company does survive such a disaster, the negative publicity is likely to prevent customers from returning in the future, which is why it’s essential to take precautionary measures before that happens.

We Can Help

If you want professional legal assistance so that you don’t need to worry about accidently breaking the law, then contact us right away. When you do, we will sit down and address any concerns you might have. We will put in our best effort to help you understand Stark Law, licensing requirements and more. We will also help you take the first steps to secure your business so that you know you are not at risk. Our attention to detail allows us to ensure you are free from violations, so you can put your mind at rest by knowing you are in good hands. If you are ready to protect yourself and your pharmacy or dispensary, contact us right away so that we can set up an appointment.