Headshot of Mel Soliz

Health care providers are prohibited from engaging in information blocking under the new federal Information Blocking Rule (IBR). Coppersmith Brockelman’s Partner Mel Soliz explains IBR requirements for health care providers in her educational webinar for Health Care Training. Mel covered the IBR’s background, enforcement structure and important deadlines; highlighted practices that implicate the prohibition on information blocking; IBR exceptions with a special focus on preventing harm, privacy, security, and content and manner; and best practices for IBR compliance. Mel regularly speaks in local and national forums on these topics and has been active in state and federal policy making on these issues. She is the President of the Arizona Society of Healthcare Attorneys and is recognized by Best Lawyers© and Southwest Super Lawyers: Rising Stars© for her...

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Headshot of Mel Soliz

Health care providers, health information networks/exchanges, and health IT developers must comply with the Information Blocking Rule (IBR). The IBR prohibits these actors from knowingly engaging in practices that are likely to interfere with the access, exchange or use of electronic health information (EHI), unless required by law or a regulatory exception applies. Melissa (Mel) Soliz, a Partner at Coppersmith Brockelman, explored IBR’s basic compliance requirements and the potential intersection between IBR compliance and False Claims Act (FCA) liability in her presentation to the American Bar Association. Mel regularly speaks in local and national forums on data privacy, access, and interoperability laws and is active in state and federal policy making on these issues. Heavily involved in her professional community, Mel is the President of the...

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Attorney Jill Chasson

Piece-rate pay compensates workers a fixed amount for each item of work completed per day or week. Although there are advantages to piece-rate compensation, such as incentivizing workers to be more efficient and productive, employers that use this method must still comply with the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In her most recent HR Laws article, Jill Chasson recommends keeping an accurate record of daily and weekly hours worked so piece-rate pay can be supplemented if a worker exceeds 40 hours of work in a week. Jill highlighted an example of how costly failure to pay overtime can be. An Arizona construction company that did not pay overtime to its piece-rate workers or keep accurate time records was investigated...

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Super Lawyers 2023 Awards

Coppersmith Brockelman announced that 13 of its 23 attorneys have been recognized in Super Lawyers’ 2023 edition, with Keith Beauchamp and John DeWulf making the Top 50 Arizona Super Lawyers list. Super Lawyers honors accomplished attorneys in more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Attorneys from Coppersmith Brockelman who received the 2023 honor are: Keith Beauchamp – Business Litigation (recognized since 2007; Top 50 Arizona Super Lawyers in 2023, 2022, and 2011) Kent Brockelman – Employment & Labor Law (recognized since 2007) Jill Chasson – Employment & Labor Law (recognized since 2016) John DeWulf – Business Litigation (recognized since 2007); Top 50 Arizona Super Lawyers (recognized since 2011) Andrew Fox – Southwest Super Lawyers Rising...

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Kristen Rosati

De-identified data is essential to research and innovation in health care. To ensure continued access to de-identified data, Kristen Rosati advocates for two goals in her guest commentary in Datavant’s newsletter Privacy Matters. First, Kristen explains the need for a federal prohibition on re-identification of individuals from de-identified datasets. This prohibition would act as an alternative to the current push for individual control of de-identified data, which would negatively impact the quality of and ability to conduct essential research. Second, the industry should push for using well-established HIPAA de-identification standards in evolving state laws. Having one consistent and well-crafted de-identification standard is crucial for research and other data collaborations. Kristen, a past President and Fellow of the American Health Law Association, is a nationally sought-after expert and...

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Kristen Rosati, Karen Owens, Mel Soliz, and Marki Stewart

The Arizona Society of Healthcare Attorneys (AzSHA) hosted its Arizona Health Law Conference & Annual Meeting on February 24, during which local and national health law leaders covered monumental changes to health care law and policy over the last year. Coppersmith Brockelman health law attorneys — Melissa (Mel) Soliz, AzSHA president; Karen Owens, AzSHA VP and Director of Programming; and Marki Stewart, AzSHA’s Board Member; as well as Kristen Rosati (former AHLA President) — showed their deep experience on the topics ranging from data privacy, interoperability, and reproductive health rights to health equity and peer review. The event was a huge success among the Arizona health law community, as more than 140 attorneys, academics, compliance personnel and students were in attendance. Each Coppersmith attorney led their...

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