Is Your Hospital Prepared to Hire From the New Applicant Pool of International Physicians?

Posted on May 20, 2026 by Breazeale Sachse

By: Rachael Jeanfreau & Carrie L. Jones

The United States is facing healthcare workforce shortages. Louisiana is no exception as we are faced with severe physician shortages, especially in rural areas. Act 646 of the 2024 Louisiana Regular Legislative Session seeks to address physician shortages in Louisiana by creating a less burdensome pathway for licensure for international physicians. The new law is an innovative approach to address physician shortages and gives Louisiana hospitals the ability to attract highly trained and competent physicians that otherwise would not come to our state.

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Hospitals Beware: Properly Safeguarding the Most Protected Patient Records in Healthcare. (42 CFR Part 2)

Posted on May 20, 2026 by Breazeale Sachse

By: Emily Black Grey

Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment records are governed by 42 CFR Part 2, and hospitals must be aware of the potential applicability of these regulations. Like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), these “Part 2” regulations safeguard confidentiality of patient records and protect some of the most vulnerable patients: those in SUD treatment. The heightened protections in the Part 2 regulations are meant to ensure that a patient who receives SUD treatment is not made more vulnerable by the availability of his or her treatment records.

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What Hospitals Really Need to Know About Information Blocking

Posted on May 20, 2026 by Breazeale Sachse

By: Emily Black Grey

The Information Blocking Rules are complex, but many hospitals are just looking for a few, bottom-line answers about effective dates, potential penalties, and whether patients must really get access to all lab and imaging results immediately – even if a physician would rather explain potentially devastating results first.

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Recent OIG Advisory Opinions Address Physician Business Relationships with Hospitals and Physician Practices

Posted on May 20, 2026 by Breazeale Sachse

By: Clay J. Countryman

Several recent advisory opinions issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) have addressed common aspects to physician practice business relationships with hospitals and other providers. Although the OIG’s comments in an advisory opinion are limited to a specific proposed arrangement, the OIG’s comments indicate how certain aspects of a hospital’s current or proposed arrangement with physicians may be scrutinized under the Federal anti-kickback statute and other fraud and abuse laws.

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Louisiana Passes Act No. 247 on Allowable Fees for Public Record Requests

Posted on July 31, 2023 by Breazeale Sachse

Written by: Christopher J. Vidrine

On June 9, 2023, Governor Edwards signed Act No. 247 of the 2023 Regular Session which relates to the costs for public records. The Act seeks to address a previously unanswered question on the allowed fees associated with public records requests in Louisiana’s public records law. The Act will become effective on August 1, 2023.

Louisiana Revised Statute 44:32(C) provides that custodians of public records may charge copying fees for the production of public records pursuant to a public records request (“PRR”). For state agencies, those fees are set according to a uniform fee schedule established by the Commission of Administration.[1] The fee schedule can be found in Section 301 of Title 4 of the Louisiana Administrative Code.[2] However, for non-state agencies (which includes Hospital Service Districts), the statute only provides that “[t]he custodian may establish and collect reasonable fees for making copies of public records.”[3]

This necessarily introduces the question: What constitutes a reasonable fee?

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