On June 1, 2018, any person or business that acquires or uses personally identifiable information of an Alabama resident, or contracts to maintain, store, process or access such information, may be subject to The Alabama Data Breach Notification Act of 2018.

I recently attended a conference in Las Vegas where I caught up with colleagues who specialize in healthcare operations and business strategy.

AAMC calls for a multi-pronged approach to address the looming physician shortage.

"If they have an email address of smokeemup@gmail.com on their resume, I'm not going to call," says Jennifer Neal, administrator with Pulmonary and Sleep Associates in Birmingham. "Obviously you're not thinking."

Health care insurance is a hotly contested political issue, but the true cost is felt by individuals unable to pay for medical care. Without help, many become seriously ill or live with chronic, often debilitating conditions that prevent the uninsured from maintaining steady employment.

At the core of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the three-legged stool: (1) insurance reforms; (2) the individual mandate; and (3) premium and cost-sharing subsidies. Removal of any one of these legs could destabilize the ACA.

With only 73 physicians per 10,000 residents, a 2012 survey ranked Alabama 45^th in the country in primary physicians per capita. In rural areas, where transportation can also be a problem, the nearest primary care can be even farther.

At the time of this writing, Alabama is one step closer to having a law on the books related to cybersecurity. Alabama is currently one of two states along with South Dakota that have not passed a data breach notification law.

Trying to stay ahead of healthcare hacks can be time consuming and costly. Yet, many medical practices and healthcare companies could significantly lower risks by following simple, inexpensive best practices.

"People don't think about their deductible and when the time comes, we have to educate them about their insurance," says Lisa Warren, CEO at Andrews Sports Medicine.

U.S. businesses spent $90 billion on non-cash incentives for staff in 2015. Only 26 percent of businesses offered any non-cash options. "The biggest obstacle to finding incentives is just that everyone's motivator is different.

A pair of Justice Department memos have made waves in the past month and have the potential to significantly impact the way the federal government prosecutes civil enforcement cases, particularly those brought under the False Claims Act.

"The one thing doctors should be doing is making sure their patients have their address correct with Medicare," says Phillip Allen, billing service manager with MediSYS.

A historic run of low medical malpractice premiums continues across the U.S., including in Alabama.

In late December 2017, the president signed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act--the first major change in the income tax code in over 30 years.

The 2017 news was replete with stories announcing ransomware attacks on health IT systems across the country.

If the 2017 healthcare environment could be summed up in one word, it would be "uncertainty."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an order to make it easier for Americans to buy bare-bones health insurance plans, using his presidential powers to undermine Obamacare after fellow Republicans in Congress failed to repeal the 2010 law.

While the work isn't finished, the latest data shows efforts to improve inpatient safety by implementing best practices are really paying off.

For three years, Chilton County has been without a hospital, which at times, has been challenging for the community. For instance, last year, when a school bus crashed in Clanton, the children had to be driven 30 miles away to Shelby Baptist Medical Center in Alabaster. Fortunately, none of the injuries were life-threatening.

PwC's Health Research Institute looks at areas of interest to the industry in 2017 starting with the looming questions surrounding the Affordable Care Act.

What will be next for health care in the United States? While there have been some successes associated with the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") such as health insurance coverage available for some Americans that had previously not had such access and increased emphasis on core quality standards such as avoidance of hospital acquired infections1, there are more critics than proponents.