E-Commerce and Internet Law Issues
With healthcare being delivered online or via software—whether as digital health, mobile health, telemedicine, a mobile medical app, wearable health technology, or via virtual reality, augmented reality, AI-powered devise, or otherwise—healthcare companies that are looking to grab market share, need to understand how healthcare law intersects with intellectual property protection and general business law.
Our legal team can guide healthcare companies with an online presence, software, or other health technology regarding legal issues relating to:
- Advertising legal issues
- Business dispute resolution
- Business policies
- Disclaimers specific to the health and wellness industry
- E-commerce Issues
- Email and SPAM legal issues
- FDA law governing mobile medical apps
- FTC mandated disclosures
- FTC issues governing testimonials and endorsements
- HIPAA and data security protection
- Intellectual property protection
- Internet privacy
- Made in the USA rules
- Rules specific to nutraceutical, weight loss and skin care products
- Social media legal issues
- Telemarketing law
- Terms of use
- Trade secrets and confidentiality
- Website review with respect to claims
- Website Terms of Use
In addition to reviewing marketing materials for FTC exposure, we also provide corporate legal advice, including drafting and negotiating Internet Affiliate Agreements, Online Publishing Agreements, Marketing and Sales Agent Agreements, Website Development Agreements, and specialized agreements for the healthcare industry.
Our healthcare and FDA attorneys will issue-spot for liability risk, not only in the traditional corners of negligence, but also with respect to potential side-attacks, such as claims for unfair business practices, intellectual property infringement or theft of trade secrets, weak spots in compliance, fraud and abuse issues, and other sources of legal and regulatory risk.
Leases & Real Estate
We counsel our clients, from physician practices to management services organizations to growing healthcare startups, with respect to commercial leases and subleases, and on associated regulatory issues such as anti-kickback requirements that transactions be commercially reasonable and at fair market value.
We want our clients to be on the right side of fraud and abuse laws and regulations, and to ensure that they do not run afoul of corporate practice of medicine or other regulatory rules. In addition, we assist our clients in corporate transactions involving real estate, including M&A transactions and purchases and sales of medical or other clinical practices.
Liability & Risk Management
An online business that connects patients and healthcare practitioners may be subject to several sources of liability, including liability relating to unlicensed practice; vicarious liability relating to the negligence of practitioners; and liability premised on failure to vet (or credential) practitioners appropriately.
In general, there are two forms of vicarious liability: one is liability simply by the appearance of agency—i.e., the practitioner reasonably appears from the patient’s perspective to be an agent of the online company. The other is liability for failure to supervise.
While targeted disclaimers can help, it is also essential to build in some foundational risk management techniques, including contractually ensuring that practitioners do not violate their scope of practice or engage in practices that could result in liability to the telemedicine or digital health company.
FAQ
Great! Let us know and we’ll do a conflicts check and then send you an engagement letter. Typically we want to know if we are going to represent you as an individual, or your entity (corporation or LLC); we’ll also want to know your website and some basic contact information.
Review our legal services to see some of the areas we like to work in; check our testimonials, client roster, and experience; read some of our blog posts; check out our Linked In community; or just call or email us to explore. Put simply, we represent health and wellness products, technologies, practices and ventures that accelerate health and healing.
We are very comfortable working with clients via phone and email. You can sign, scan and email the engagement letter, and submit the advance by check or online.
The answer depends on the complexity of the project. Each client’s situation is different. We want every client to receive the best possible advice, and so we want to be in a position to devote as much time as is required to do that. Look to our testimonials, client roster, and experience. We work with our clients effectively and efficiently and build long-term relationships based on mutual trust. We bill hourly and do not offer project or flat fees. Lawyering is an art, not a science – we’re intuitive as well as skilled lawyers.
Yes, like most law firms, we require an advance against fees and costs. Our typical advance ranges from $3,500 – $10,000. We offer our expertise and savvy and work hand-in-hand with you toward your goals. Occasionally, we will offer you a one-hour consult as a way to jump-start our work together, and give you an overview of critical issues, with guidance on the critical business cross-roads you’re facing. We do not take equity or deferred compensation.
Our Firm doesn’t quite “quotes” or answer “how much does it cost.” Through long experience, we’ve found that the answer is pretty much meaningless. Some lawyers and law firms give quotes, but if you read the accompanying disclaimer, you’ll see that the disclaimer basically says that you can’t depend on the quote for anything. In our long experience, “how much it costs” depends on a lot of variables, including:
- What the client is asking for
- What the client really needs
- What the client doesn’t know they don’t know
- What we discover as we dive into the legal research and analysis
- How complicated the problem really turns out to be
- How much client will want to do on their own
- Whether we can find some elegantly simple solutions to sub-parts of the puzzle
- What decisions we make together, and separately, as we explore the puzzle and put solutions and strategies together
In many cases, we might think a project is very complex but then as dig in, we can make executive decisions and recommendations that save the client dozens of hours of lawyer time and tens of thousands of dollars. This happens a lot with our clients. In other cases, the client might think the problem is simple but as we start to review it, the puzzle is much larger; sometimes the client throws in extra facts and complications at the last minute, and that will increase the expense and work; sometimes we’ll give the client “homework” so they can DIY a piece, taking it outside the need for lawyer time.
One thing we do is get our clients frequently on the phone. We find that the Legal Strategy Session often cuts through the fog. Where we need to do a chunk of written legal work, we’ll do so and let you know that’s what we think is needed. Where we can be more efficient with a call, we’ll tell you that as well.
Many clients come us after having wasted tens of thousands of dollars with other lawyers. Read our testimonials. We’re here to provide a lot more value than the retainer—our business model and Firm policy is to provide at least 3-5 times the value back to you. That’s our model and we’re sticking to it. We’re not trying to sell you on a “cheap retainer” or promise of discounts. We’re here to solve a big hairy problem and get you where you need to go, as efficiently and productively as we can.
Typically, assessing feasibility involves legal and strategic advice, which we provide in the 45-minute consult, in a way that is appropriate to the time we have together there.
The only way to know is to jump into the process. If you want to know more about us and how we work, browse our testimonials, look at our client rolodex, or review our experience on our website.
Work with us and find out how efficient and engaged we are with your business. We like to work with clients for life. It is a deep and trusting relationship.
Michael’s bio is online here. He has written books on healthcare law and policy, taught healthcarelaw as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, garnered NIH and other medical research grants, and published over 100 articles in legal and medical journals. Michael speaks all over the world on healthcare topics.
