The Medical staff counselor
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This is the second part of a two-part article examining the federal patient anti-dumping statute, under which physicians are required to treat a hospital's emergency patients, including women in labor, and to comply with certain requirements that dictate when it is appropriate to transfer a patient. Part I discussed in detail the provisions of the statute. Part II analyzes various court interpretations of the law and its potential impact on physician liability.
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This article describes the types of medical staff credentialing and peer review activities that invite the scrutiny of the Federal Trade Commission. To avoid antitrust problems, medical staffs and their members are advised to offer recommendations based on specific quality-of-care concerns. Antitrust problems will arise, however, if the medical staff or its members engage in collective activities that involve threats or coercion directed at the hospital's governing board or that are calculated solely to exclude an entire class of potential competitors.
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Physicians often find themselves the victims of uninformed peer review practices whereby hospital boards make decisions regarding medical staff privileges without adequately evaluating the charges and without affording physicians the appropriate due process protections. In addition to damaging a physician's reputation, such unfair review practices can lead to liability exposure and expensive and prolonged litigation. This article describes how medical staff physicians and hospital board members can avoid these problems by taking an active and informed role in the peer review process.