The crossroads between healthcare and mediation is in the news again.

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Have you heard? Karl Bayer’s Disputing Blog recently unveiled a new look.

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Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that a court must accept an arbitrator’s decision to allow or disallow class arbitration based upon the terms of the disputing parties’ agreement. In Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, No. 12-135 (June 10, 2013), a group of physicians sued a healthcare insurer, Oxford Health Plans, over a number of medical payments in New Jersey state court.

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Myriam E Gilles, Professor of Law at the Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law has authored an interesting article entitled "Operation Arbitration: Privatizing Medical Malpractice Claims, Theoretical Inquiries in Law." In her paper, Professor Gilles examines the potential effect that the use of binding arbitration may have on medical malpractice claims in the future.

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A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) panel has declined to shift the burden to limit the effect of an arbitration award in a healthcare employment dispute. In Shands Jacksonville Med. Ctr. Inc., 359 NLRB No. 104 (Apr. 26, 2013), the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel requested that the board require an employer charged with unfair labor practices to demonstrate that an arbitral award meets the NLRB’s requirements for acceptance rather than require

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At Cleveland Clinic, a patient was asked to keep a journal of all the caregivers she saw over her five-day stay. In 2010, all 43,000 employees at Cleveland Clinic participated in a mandated half-day exercise that cost $11 million. According to CMS, the overall patient satisfaction for Cleveland Clinic has risen from 55% in 2008 to 92% in 2012 (approximately 4,600 hospitals were surveyed).

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In November, the Texas Supreme Court promulgated a number of new civil procedure rules designed to expedite court cases where the amount in controversy is less than $100,000. Initially, proposed Rule 169(d) barred both the parties and the courts from forcing a dispute to mediation where no contractual obligation to mediate existed. Following a public comment period that ended on February 1st, a revised Rule 169 became final and effective on March

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"The power of the core concerns comes from the fact that they can be used as both a lens to understand the emotional experience of each party and as a lever to stimulate positive emotions in yourself and in others. If core concerns aren't being met, work relationships are compromised, but more importantly an opportunity to "stimulate positive emotions" is missed.

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The Physicians Foundation identified five issues likely to significantly impact physicians and patients in 2013. The 2013 Watch List is based on research undertaken by the Foundation in 2012 including the 2012 Biennial Physician Survey, the 2012 Next Generation Physician Survey, and the 2012 US Healthcare Highway Report.

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A federal appeals court has ruled that two Wall Street brokerages must arbitrate a $234 million auction rate securities claim in a dispute with a healthcare organization over what exactly constitutes a customer. In January, a panel of the United States 4th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Carilion Clinic was a customer of UBS AG and Citigroup, Inc. pursuant to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority‘s (FINRA) securities arbitration ru

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