“I cannot keep my doors open with my shifting payor mix and reduced reimbursement,” Dr. Carl Coyote remarked to his health care lawyer in a coffee shop meeting.

“I read an article on the Internet that says I will be fined lots of money if I email my patients,” Dr. Oliver Oldschool griped over the phone to his personal lawyer. “Is that true?” he asked. “Well, I am glad you do not believe everything you read on the Internet,” the lawyer responded with a bit of sarcasm. “Email is a little tricky because of HIPAA, and you just need to be careful,” he elusively added.

“I only left my car for five minutes to get something in my apartment and the car was locked,” Dr. Barney Breech explained to his medical group’s HIPAA compliance officer after his car was stolen with his laptop computer inside. The car was recovered a few days later, but not the laptop.

"They just keep changing everything so they are going to trip me up at some point,” the physician owner of Coyote Medical Group blurted out somewhat sarcastically. “Who are they?” the group’s general counsel inquired.

“I just got a certified letter from Acme Health Plan demanding money,” an exasperated Dr. Wyle E. Coyote explained to his health care lawyer over the phone. “Tell me a bit more,” the lawyer quietly responded.

“What do you mean that I have to schedule an office visit with the doctor to get my lab test information?” the increasingly frustrated patient asked the medical office manager over the phone. “Well, that is just our office policy and the doctor says you would not understand the test results,” the office manager asserted.