Earn CEU credit Cathy Garrey, Connect with your - Health Care ...
Earn CEU credit Cathy Garrey, Connect with your - Health Care ...
Earn CEU credit Cathy Garrey, Connect with your - Health Care ...
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ASKLEADERSHIP<br />
John asks the leadership<br />
<strong>your</strong> questions<br />
Editor’s note: John Falcetano,<br />
CCEP, CHC-F, CHRC is Chief<br />
Audit/Compliance Officer for<br />
University <strong>Health</strong> Systems of<br />
Eastern Carolina and a long-time<br />
member of HCCA. This column<br />
has been created to give members the opportunity to submit their<br />
questions by e-mail to jfalcetano@suddenlink.net and have John<br />
contact members of HCCA leadership for their response.<br />
John Falcetano<br />
Question: What is the difference between attorney-client<br />
protection/privilege and attorney-client work product Does it<br />
make a difference if you get legal advice from in-house counsel or<br />
external counsel when you identify a potential compliance issue<br />
The answer was provided by Frank E. Sheeder III, JD, CCEP, Partner,<br />
Jones Day and member of the HCCA Board of Directors<br />
Both of these doctrines are long-standing ways to protect the confidentiality<br />
of communications between lawyers and clients, and the work that<br />
lawyers and their agents generate. The attorney-client privilege generally<br />
protects communications between a client and an attorney where the<br />
client is seeking, and the lawyer is providing, legal advice. The privilege<br />
dates back to Elizabethan times (the 1500s) and is designed to facilitate<br />
the candid exchange of facts, which should lead to better legal advice.<br />
If clients were not assured that the information they shared <strong>with</strong> their<br />
lawyers, and the ensuing discussions, were not confidential, this would<br />
have a chilling effect on the efficacy of the legal advice process.<br />
The attorney work product doctrine protects the confidentiality of an<br />
attorney’s thought processes, analyses, memoranda, notes, and the like. It<br />
is likewise designed to facilitate the rendition of legal advice. In the health<br />
care compliance realm, it is important to note that when attorneys engage<br />
consultants or experts to assist them in rendering legal advice, their work<br />
can be protected under the auspices of the work-product doctrine.<br />
It does not make any difference whether you get advice from an in-house<br />
lawyer or outside counsel when you identify a potential compliance issue.<br />
The important thing is for compliance professionals to recognize<br />
circumstances in which it is prudent to seek legal advice. n<br />
<strong>Health</strong> <strong>Care</strong> Compliance Association • 888-580-8373 • www.hcca-info.org<br />
83<br />
October 2008
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