The Health Care Manager's Legal Guide

A great many tasks the healthcare manager must perform have legal implications. In many instances, legislation of various kinds, largely federal but sometimes state and local as well, proscribe definite boundaries beyond which the manager cannot stray without running the risk of legal trouble that can sometimes become frustrating, costly, and time-consuming. The Health Care Manager's Legal Guide provides guidance for the working health care manager who must manage day-to-day in an environment filled with potential legal obstacles and pitfalls. There are hazards related to recruiting, interviewing, and reference checking; wage and salary issues, including describing and grading jobs and the approval and control of overtime; maintaining patient and employee privacy and confidentiality; determining employee eligibility for various legislated benefits such as the Family and Medical Leave Act; addressing allegations of sexual harassment in particular and dealing with disciplinary matters in general; governing management behavior during union organizing; and a number of other concerns involving situations in which the manager might encounter legal issues in everyday operations Key Features: Addresses legal issues in everyday language; no legalese, no formal legal terminology unless absolutely necessary. Focuses only on aspects of laws that impact the healthcare manager s areas of involvement; for example, while the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) consists of five parts or titles, only one or two of which may affect the typical health care manager. The book is not intended to advise or instruct in the contents of the law but rather to provide guidance that will help keep the manager on the right side of the law while getting the job done.