Stuart M. Gerson

Firm/Organization: Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.

Blogs: Health Law Advisor, Management Memo, Retail Labor and Employment Law, TechHealth Perspectives, Technology Employment Law, Wage and Hour Defense Blog

Latest Articles

Health Law Advisor

AT&T/Time Warner Merger Approval Will Spur Vertical Mergers in Health Care

By Stuart M. Gerson on June 14, 2018

Tuesday’s decision by Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia categorically approving the merger of AT&T and Time Warner, without imposing any conditions or limitations and rejecting granting a stay for appeal purposes, will, unless blocked if there is an appeal, open the way for a series of pending vertical merger deals. A “vertical merger” is a merger of two companies that do not compete and that are at…

Health Law Advisor

NIST Seeks Comments on Cybersecurity Standards for Patient Imaging Devices

By Stuart M. Gerson on May 16, 2018

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST) has announced that it will be seeking industry input on developing “use cases” for its framework of cybersecurity standards related to patient imaging devices. NIST, a component of the Department of Commerce, is the agency assigned to the development and promulgation of policies, guidelines and regulations dealing with cybersecurity standards and best practices. NIST claims that its cybersecurity program promotes innovation and competitiveness by advancing measurement science,…

Technology Employment Law

The GDPR Soon Will Go Into Effect, and U.S. Companies Have to Prepare

By Stuart M. Gerson on March 7, 2018

The European Union’s (“EU’s”) General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”) go into effect on May 25, 2018, and they clearly apply to U.S. companies doing business in Europe or offering goods and services online that EU residents can purchase. Given that many U.S. companies, particularly in the health care space, increasingly are establishing operations and commercial relationships outside the United States generally, and in Europe particularly, many may be asking questions akin to the following recent…

Management Memo

The Supreme Court Holds That Federal Courts Must Interpret Collective Bargaining Agreements in Accordance with “Ordinary Contract Principles;” Rejects So-Called “Yard-Man” Inferences

By Steven M. Swirsky, Christina C. Rentz & Stuart M. Gerson on February 23, 2018

Resolving a split between circuits, this week the United States Supreme Court, in CNH Industrial v. Reese rejected what has come to be known as the Yard-Man standard, and reaffirmed that collective bargaining agreements must be interpreted according ordinary contract principles. Although the Supreme Court has long held ordinary cannons of contract construction apply to collective bargaining agreements, some federal courts developed a specialized set of inferences, known as the Yard-Man inferences, which allowed them to…

Health Law Advisor

OCR Pronouncement on Ransomware Breach Notification May Make You “Wanna Cry”

By Stuart M. Gerson & Patricia Wagner on May 22, 2017

Last week’s “WannaCry” worldwide Ransomware attack was particularly targeted against international health organizations. Though the attack was thwarted not without a little good luck and less financial loss that might have been predicted, it unsurprisingly triggered responses from U.S. government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and, with specific reference to health care providers, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). It also is no…

Health Law Advisor

Executive Order Addressing Cybersecurity Amidst FBI Uproar

By Stuart M. Gerson on May 11, 2017

Surprisingly amidst the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uproar, President Trump today signed an executive order addressing cybersecurity for the federal government and critical infrastructure, along with international coordination and cyber deterrence. The substance of the order, which is about to be made public, comes from various press releases and interviews with administration officials. The order is composed of three sections on cybersecurity and IT modernization within the federal government, protecting critical infrastructure, and establishing…

Health Law Advisor

The First Hundred Days and Cybersecurity

By Stuart M. Gerson on May 1, 2017

Executive Order Delay Trumps Administration Policy Development President Trump’s first hundred days did not produce the event that most people in the cybersecurity community expected – a Presidential Executive Order supplanting or supplementing the Obama administration’s cyber policy – but that doesn’t mean that this period has been uneventful, particularly for those in the health care space. The events of the period have cautioned us not to look for an imminent Executive Order. While White…

Health Law Advisor

Compliance Enforcement Pressure is Increasing for Directors

By Stuart M. Gerson on April 28, 2017

Both the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General have long urged (and in many cases, mandated through settlements that include Corporate Integrity Agreements and through court judgments) that health care organizations have “top-down” compliance programs with vigorous board of directors implementation and oversight. Governmental reach only increased with the publication by DoJ of the so-called Yates Memorandum, which focused government enforcers on potential individual liability for corporate management…

TechHealth Perspectives

Sharing Cyber Threat Information

By Stuart M. Gerson on April 20, 2017

The Information Sharing and Analysis Organization-Standards Organization (ISAO-SO) was set up under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security pursuant to a Presidential Executive Order intended to foster threat vector sharing among private entities and with the government. ISAOs are proliferating in many critical infrastructure fields, including health care, where cybersecurity and data privacy are particularly sensitive issues given HIPAA requirements and disproportionate industry human and systems vulnerabilities. Therefore, in advising their companies’ management,…

Health Law Advisor

A Perilous “Advice of Counsel” Defense Results in Disclosure, Not Only of Attorney/Client Communications, but of Attorney Work Product Material as Well

By Stuart M. Gerson on April 20, 2017

Frequently, parties in both civil and criminal cases where fraud or corporate misconduct is being alleged attempt to defend themselves by arguing that they lacked unlawful intent because they relied upon the advice of counsel. Such an assertion instantly raises two fundamental questions: 1) what advice did the party’s attorney actually give?; and 2) what facts and circumstances did the party disclose, or fail to disclose, in order to obtain that opinion? It is well…

Stuart M. Gerson

AT&T/Time Warner Merger Approval Will Spur Vertical Mergers in Health Care

NIST Seeks Comments on Cybersecurity Standards for Patient Imaging Devices

The GDPR Soon Will Go Into Effect, and U.S. Companies Have to Prepare

The Supreme Court Holds That Federal Courts Must Interpret Collective Bargaining Agreements in Accordance with “Ordinary Contract Principles;” Rejects So-Called “Yard-Man” Inferences

OCR Pronouncement on Ransomware Breach Notification May Make You “Wanna Cry”

Executive Order Addressing Cybersecurity Amidst FBI Uproar

The First Hundred Days and Cybersecurity

Compliance Enforcement Pressure is Increasing for Directors

Sharing Cyber Threat Information

A Perilous “Advice of Counsel” Defense Results in Disclosure, Not Only of Attorney/Client Communications, but of Attorney Work Product Material as Well

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