Daily Briefs

Attorneys to discuss significant changes to HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability Act) “Mega Rule.”
Butzel Long attorneys will discuss the HIPAA “Mega Rule” and what healthcare providers and vendors need to know during a Breakfast Briefing program presented in partnership with Automation Alley from 9 to 11:30 a.m. on Friday, March 22 at Automation Alley, located at 2675 Bellingham Drive in Troy. 
Featured presenters include attorneys from Butzel Long’s Health Care Industry team.  Panelists include Debra A. Geroux, Mark R. Lezotte, Claudia Rast and Robert H. Schwartz.
Program participants will learn how to comply, how to avoid penalties, what to expect in agreements, and what to require of subcontractors.
“These are significant changes that impact those who not only service patients, but those who are vendors to providers at all levels who come into contact with protected health information,” said Robert H. Schwartz, health care attorney, Butzel Long.
The registration fee for the briefing is $25 and includes continental breakfast. 
Seating is limited for the program and registration is required. To register, visit www.butzel.com/events/. For inquiries, call Jonathan Spencer at (313) 983-6995.


ABA releases toolkit to address gender pay gap in legal profession

 ABA President Laurel Bellows and the American Bar Association’s Gender Equity Task Force have introduced an innovative new tool in the fight for gender equity in the legal profession.
The ABA’s Toolkit for Gender Equity in Partner Compensation is the first in a series of projects that aims to provide specific tools law firms can use to eliminate pay differences between male and female lawyers. The toolkit focuses primarily on abolishing inequities at the partner level to first facilitate change where the greatest pay disparity exists. At the median, women equity partners at the 200 largest law firms earn 89 percent of the compensation earned by their male peers.
“Unequal compensation diminishes women’s prospects for success and unfairly undervalues the material contributions of women to their firms. Plus, pay inequities have a profound effect on a firm’s performance and profits,” Bellows said. “The ABA has long been committed to equality. We are committed to ensuring that women and men in our profession share the same opportunities and rewards. Inequity in compensation is a problem that we can and must fix.”
The toolkit will be distributed to law firms and bar associations across the country to launch a dialogue about fair and transparent compensation systems for partners. The toolkit contains all the necessary tools to conduct a summit on this issue.
Ultimately, the toolkit seeks to increase awareness about gender pay inequity and its impacts and train law firm leaders to recognize biases that affect the accuracy of compensation decisions. Law firm leaders will also be encouraged to give fair and appropriate credit for all components of firm revenue and activity; select diverse members for compensation committees; and train compensation decision-makers on implicit bias.
The toolkit is available online at www.americanbar.org. To learn more about the ABA’s work on gender equity, check out the ABA Gender Equity Task Force on Facebook, or follow the task force on Twitter at @ABAGenderEquity.

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