E-Discovery In Healthcare Litigation

The December 1 effective date for the new e-discovery federal rules amendments is only a few short months away. Healthcare providers and other organizations dealing with healthcare information need to establish systems and procedures to deal with preservation, retention and discovery of healthcare information.

Knowing how to manage these challenges may, literally, be the difference between victory and defeat in litigation. To successfully handle the demands of electronic discovery and meet the new standards, attorneys must be able to demonstrate their good-faith efforts toward compliance immediately.

As the $1.45 billion damages award in the Coleman Holdings v. Morgan Stanley Co. case made evident, failure to properly handle electronic documents can prove very costly.

Listen as our authoritative panel helps healthcare company counsel and legal advisors understand the new rules amendments, how they will impact managing document retention and electronic discovery, and what attorneys should be doing now to prepare.

Robert C. Threlkeld, Partner, Morris Manning & Martin, Atlanta, concentrates in complex litigation, including healthcare litigation, regulatory matters and commercial disputes. He handles disputes for a variety of healthcare providers, including large physician practices, practice management companies, and medical partnerships.

Ieuan Mahony, Partner, Holland & Knight, Boston, is co-chair of the office’s Intellectual Property and Technology Law groups. He counsels clients on, and has litigated, a wide range of technology and IP matters, including matters involving value-added medical and financial data, traditional and online media, medical devices, and domain names, among others.

John M. Murdock, Epstein Becker & Green, Washington, D.C., is a member of the firm's Health Care and Life Sciences practice. He advises and represents companies and health care entities, including both for-profit and not-for-profit managed care organizations, in a wide variety of regulatory and commercial matters.

The panel addresses these and other key questions:

• How do the amended federal rules and recent case law impact health information management?
• How do the unique evidentiary and privacy issues – e.g., HIPAA --impact document retention and discovery for healthcare companies?
• How can healthcare providers and their legal advisors map out a strategy for preserving and collecting electronic information and evidence?
• What are the best practices for healthcare companies in creating an internal corporate response for electronic discovery?

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