As communication increasingly moves online, practitioners are becoming more comfortable interacting over video conference.

The Northern District of Illinois has ordered a consumer’s Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) lawsuit filed against online photography company Shutterfly to arbitration, despite that Shutterfly unilaterally amended its Terms of Use (“Terms”) after the consumer agreed to them. 

Good court reporters have seen and worked through every scenario – mumblers, whisperers, screamers, paper rattlers, cross-talkers – you name it. So, after 32 years, I thought I’d seen it all. And then came COVID-19.

Due to unprecedented health and safety risks, more clients and attorneys are turning to online dispute resolution (“ODR”) to resolve their disputes.

by Holly Hayes The American Arbitration Association will hold the 2012 Healthcare Dispute Resolution, Innovation and Strategy Conference on November 9, 2012, in San Francisco. The agenda includes the following sessions on incorporating ADR into the changing healthcare arena: Representatives from the major health plans will discuss the significant issues and business-to-business disputes facing their respective organizations. In-house counsel for health plans will weigh in on how ADR can offer solutions and, from their perspectives, discuss what the future holds for the changing healthcare landscape. FACULTY Steven M. Cohen, Associate General Counsel, Anthem Blue CrossWoodland Hills, CA Ed Neugebauer, Deputy Chief Legal Officer & Head of Litigation, Aetna, Blue Bell, PA Peter H. Walsh, Senior Deputy General Counsel, Chief of Litigation, Investigations & Privacy, UnitedHealth Group, Minnetonka, MN As the previous session probed issues and disputes from the point of view of health plans, this panel will explore the same for providers, which include health systems and hospitals. In-house counsel for providers will review their perspectives on how ADR might offer solutions and what the future holds for the changing healthcare landscape. FACULTY Jeffrey S. Bromme, Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Adventist Health System, Altamonte Springs, FL Pamela Marino, Vice President Legal Operations, Sutter Health Systems, San Francisco, CA Mitch H. Melfi, Senior Vice President, Legal Services & General Counsel, Catholic Health Initiatives, Denver, CO Integration of Physicians into Health Networks: Medical Staff, Credentialing & Physician Contracts Round Table:What is the impact on physicians and medical staffs arising from the change in status of physicians from independent practitioners to hospital/health network contract employees or doctors closely integrated with hospitals and systems? Issues to be discussed include credentialing, peer review, and access to fair hearing procedures. Particular attention will be focused on employment contracts and the role of ADR as a mechanism for resolving disputes in physician employment agreements. FACULTY Catherine M. Ballard, Partner, Bricker & Eckler, LLP, Columbus, OH Katherine Benesch, Partner, Benesch & Associates, Princeton, NJ Ann O’Connell, Of Counsel, Nossaman, LLP, Sacramento, CA Dale Cowan, MD, J.D., Vice President, Medical Affairs, Parma Community General Hospital, Parma, OH   Holly Hayes is a mediator at Karl Bayer, Dispute Resolution Expert where she focuses on mediation of health care disputes. Holly holds a B.A. from Southern Methodist University and a Masters in Health Administration from Duke University. She can be reached at: holly@karlbayer.com.

by Holly Hayes One month ago, we started our health care conflict resolution series (see Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV) focusing on the Roger Fisher, William Ury Getting to YES principled negotiation method involving: 1. Separating the people from the problem. 2. Focusing on interests, not positions. 3. Generating a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do. 4. Insisting that the result be based on some objective standard. Our final post in this series focuses on “using objective criteria.” In almost any negotiation, no matter how many options are generated to “split the pie,” there is still going to be a conflict of interests. As seen in our previous posts, the physician wants to continue his vacation and the nurse on the unit wants him to sign his verbal orders per hospital policy, the radiology director wants to decrease patient complaints and the technician wants to be heard so he can be part of the solution, the physician wants to sell his practice for a high price and the hospital wants to purchase it for a low price, the ED manager wants housekeeping to help with the cleaning and housekeeping wants to work within its budgeted number of staff. In each situation, there are objective criteria that can be used to decrease the likelihood that the negotiation will become just a contest of wills and the ongoing relationship can be saved. Objective standards allow both parties to commit to reaching a solution based on principle, not pressure. In our examples, objective criteria could be hospital policy, regulatory standards, industry standards, standards used by local hospitals or physician groups or budgetary constraints. As the parties begin the process of identifying objective criteria, they can: 1. Jointly search for reasonable criteria. 2. Be open to the most appropriate standards and how they can be applied. 3. Never yield to pressure from the other party, but defer to objective standards. Pressure can take many forms: bribes, threats, manipulative appeals to trust or a simple refusal to back down. The principled response in each of these situations is the same: invite the other party to state their reasoning, suggest objective criteria that may apply and finally, refuse to budge except on the basis of objective criteria. This is the final post in our series on using the principled negotiation method in health care conflict. Look for future posts on Disputing on utilizing proven conflict resolution techniques specifically in health care. We invite your comments on this post and any suggestions for upcoming posts.   Holly Hayes is a mediator at Karl Bayer, Dispute Resolution Expert where she focuses on mediation of health care disputes. Holly holds a B.A. from Southern Methodist University and a Masters in Health Administration from Duke University. She can be reached at: holly@karlbayer.com.