Long Island Medical Staff Privileges Lawyer

When you are a healthcare professional, your privileges are usually paramount to your livelihood and the continuation of your practice. If these privileges are affected for any reason, from disciplinary actions to summary suspension, it can lead to a report to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). This report can have a significant impact on your future employment and practice. A Long Island medical staff privileges lawyer can represent your case.

A skilled Long Island medical staff privileges attorney can take defensive action and examine the bylaws of your hospital or other healthcare entity. Each healthcare company has its own procedures and bylaws, and navigating them is especially complex without legal support. You need a lawyer who understands healthcare law, the variability of medical staff privileges, and how they are affected.

Weiss Zarett Brofman Sonnenklar & Levy, P.C.: Handling Medical Staff Privilege Cases in Long Island

The sooner you begin working with experienced staff privilege attorneys in Long Island, the sooner they can address the limitations or suspensions you face and develop a plan to protect your future. At Weiss Zarett Brofman Sonnenklar & Levy, P.C., we have spent decades protecting the licenses and practices of medical providers. Our firm has represented many healthcare professionals in cases involving hospitals, health systems, and medical staff privileges.

When you bring your case to our seasoned team, we do not pass your case off to someone less experienced. We care about our clients, and we understand how important your staff privileges are to your employment and ability to provide for yourself and your loved ones.

By acting quickly, we could avoid the more serious or long-term consequences of suspended privileges or disciplinary actions. We can work hard to find resolutions that get you back to full practice as soon as possible. If there isn’t an option to resolve it quickly, we can fight for the ideal outcome, keeping you fully informed along the way.

Threats to Medical Staff Privileges

Hospitals or other healthcare entities, or state or federal agencies, can take corrective actions against providers, conduct investigations, or begin disciplinary proceedings. Healthcare providers can lose their staff privileges or be at risk of losing them in many ways. Some include:

• Summary suspensions
• Due process hearings
• New York Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) proceedings

Cases can also occur through judicial actions filed by medical providers themselves to challenge adverse actions against their privileges. In New York, there were 848 adverse actions taken against medical providers in 2024, the majority of which were against state licensure or certification.

Losing hospital staff privileges can have significant consequences on your practice and the rest of your career. It can present challenges such as:

• Difficulty attracting patients and referrals
• A reportable action to the NPDB, accessible by hospitals, professional boards, licensing agencies, and healthcare companies or organizations
• Future difficulties getting credentials or securing employment
• Investigations by other agencies, such as the Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC)
• Termination of liability coverage
• Managed care plan panel removal

Sadly, because of the way many hospital bylaws are structured, the processes for revoking or limiting these privileges are not in your favor. You may have no right to be aware of the investigation until you face summary suspension.

Due process hearings may have very few due process elements, as they may presume guilt or provide outside experts with insufficient information about you. These are difficult challenges to overcome, but the right attorney can defend you by using their knowledge of medical staff privilege laws.

The attorneys at Weiss Zarett Brofman Sonnenklar & Levy, P.C., can provide exceptional legal support during whatever threat you face to your staff privileges. We can appeal decisions, represent your rights and interests at hearings, and take cases to court when needed. We have significant experience in local courts, including the 10th Judicial District courts, which serve Long Island counties.

Allegations of Misconduct or Impairments

Our attorneys also represent medical providers when they face allegations of drug or alcohol impairment or abuse, along with other forms of disruptive behavior in a healthcare facility. In addition to these accusations, there can be other complaints and claims of misconduct.

Accusations can not only potentially lead to suspensions or other staff privilege threats, but they can also impact your allowance for training programs or lead to issues with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). This could include probation or termination.

An accusation of abuse can also lead to misconduct accusations and additional investigations. These investigations can affect your licensure and professional standing if they are not handled properly. License investigations that end badly can result in:

• Loss of hospital staff privileges
• Loss of employment
• Exclusion from federal healthcare programs
• Loss of board certification and other credentials
• Loss of professional association enrollment and insurance benefits
• Loss of healthcare licenses and registrations related to your provider license
• The filing of civil, administrative, or criminal proceedings
• Reports to the NPDB

Many types of license investigations can be handled before a formal case or hearing, which can avoid some of the more public consequences or prevent the case from happening at all. However, this must happen quickly. Our attorneys can protect your interests against these accusations, working to safeguard your license, staff privileges, and reputation.

Review of Staff Structures and Bylaws

At Weiss Zarett Brofman Sonnenklar & Levy, P.C., we can also help practitioners and healthcare businesses review bylaws and staff structuring. Our support can aid with leadership challenges and ensuring a fair process of justice, all while still making sure effective medical providers give quality care.

For many medical entities, bylaws surrounding summary suspension and due process are unfair to physicians and medical providers. We can counsel on ways to provide fair power to medical providers, along with requirements that a healthcare company’s oversight program provide proof for why a suspension is necessary.

Hire a Medical Staff Privileges Lawyer in Long Island

Threats to your staff privileges or license can be immensely overwhelming to deal with, especially with the knowledge of how much they can impact your future. However, you don’t have to navigate these cases alone.

If you have lost your hospital staff privileges or face a threat to them, the dedicated team at Weiss Zarett Brofman Sonnenklar & Levy, P.C., can review what you can do about it. Not all actions require NPDB reporting, but many do. It’s crucial to take action as soon as possible. Contact our firm today to learn how we can help.