Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/709194
UNDER THE PREVIOUS RULE, the burden was on the physicia n to comply with the notice requirement upon ter mination; however, because the employer was of ten times not willing to g ive away patients' contact information, for both competitive and persona l reasons, the terminated phy- sician was left in a diff icult position. Now, the newly enacted R .C. 4731.228 allows the employer to hold onto patient information, w ithout f ur ther pena lizing its recently ter m i nated physicia n , a s lon g a s t hey properly notif y the patient in complia nce with R .C. 4731.228(D). However, the Code places the notice of termination burden back onto the physicia n if the employer decides to provide the physicia n with the contact information of the patients treated by the terminated physicia n. It is noteworthy that enforcement is still unclear. The legislature gave the authority for r u lema king a nd enforcement of the statute to the state medica l board, but the state medica l board has authority over the licensing of physicia ns, not health care entities as a whole. Therefore, there is no governing body that was g iven power over " hea lth ca re entities" as def ined in the statute. Due to the lack of a govern- ing body, there a re no g uidelines for the enforcement procedures or description of potentia l pena lties for hea lthcare entities who fa il to provide notice required under the Code. Lucas Murray is an attorney with the law firm of Krugliak , Wilkins, G rif fiths & Dougherty Co. LPA , in Canton , Ohio. NOTE: T his general summar y of the law should not be used to solve individual problems since slight changes in the fact situation may require a material variance in the applicable legal advice. ■ NOTICE TO PATIENTS of Terminating Physicians BY LUCAS W. MURRAY, ESQ. AS ALL MEDICAL GROUPS AND PRACTICES BATTLE SOME LEVEL OF TURNOVER WITH THEIR PHYSICIANS, IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ANY DEPARTING PHYSICIAN, AND HIS OR HER EMPLOYER, TO KNOW WHAT OBLIGATIONS THEY HAVE TO NOTIF Y PATIENTS OF THE DEPARTURE. OHIO REVISED CODE § 4731.228 «THE "CODE"¬ STATES THAT HEALTH CARE ENTITIES ARE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE NOTICE TO A PHYSICIAN'S PATIENT WHEN THAT PHYSICIAN HAS BEEN TERMINATED. UNDER THIS SECTION, "TERMINATION" MEANS THE END OF A PHYSICIAN'S EMPLOYMENT WITH A HEALTH CARE ENTIT Y, FOR ANY REASON. 2 0L E G A L E A S E