Legal Services for Members

All aspects of medical practice management, including choice of business form, employment law, finances, including billing, coding, and collection, and compliance with the health care fraud and abuse laws.

Aspects of the physician-patient relationship: entry into and withdrawal from a relationship.

The ethical and legal bases for a patient’s agreement to recommended treatment, including the physician’s role in this aspect of shared decision-making.

Medical records and compliance with the state and federal health information privacy laws, such as the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

Under Maine law, minor patients may have a right to treatment without parental consent in certain circumstances.

The Maine Health Care Security Act provisions on peer review and reporting, medical liability dispute resolution, “Good Samaritan” protections, and documentation of consent to treatment.

Provider and Patient Protections in relations with Maine’s health insurance carriers in the Maine Health Plan Improvement Act and Bureau of Insurance Rule Chapter 850, Health Plan Accountability.

Health care professional licensing, discipline, and scope of practice in the State of Maine.

Addressing threatening behavior by patients, patient failure to meet financial obligations to the practice, patient lack of compliance with treatment recommendations.

Hospital, Medical Practice, or Health Insurance Carrier credentialing, including due process protections.

Physician-Hospital relations, including EMTALA and call obligations, economic credentialing, and behavioral expectations.

Obligations of medical testimony and the protections of the Medical-Legal Code of Cooperation.

Questions of interpretation of the AMA Code of Medical Ethics.

Review of proposed physician employment agreements: This is the only routine legal service for which MMA charges a fee beyond your membership dues. For a modest flat fee of $350, a MMA attorney will review your proposed employment agreement documents, provide you with a written summary of important considerations in the contract terms, and will be available to you for telephone consultations during the negotiation process. If you don’t require a full review, but simply have a few questions about an employment agreement issue, you may consult a MMA attorney at no additional charge beyond your membership dues.

MMA attorneys are available to provide Grand Rounds presentations on a variety of medical-legal topics upon request. Please contact Elizabeth Ciccarelli, Director of CME, at [email protected] for more information.