Blog Authors

Latest from Joseph Bogdan Blog

Pharmacists are responsible for ensuring that medications are dispensed safely and appropriately. When pharmacies dispense controlled substances to patients, they may face scrutiny by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). If the DEA believes that a pharmacy has engaged in drug diversion, it may perform an investigation, or DEA agents and other law enforcement officials may even conduct a raid of a pharmacy in order to uncover evidence of wrongdoing. In these situations, pharmacists may be unsure about the steps they can take to protect themselves, their rights, and their businesses. By understanding what to do before, during,
Continue Reading How Can Pharmacists Protect Their Rights in a DEA Raid?

The medical field is a complex ecosystem of specialties, skills, and hierarchies. One aspect of this is the concept of hospital privileges – the permission granted to a medical practitioner to provide patient care within a hospital setting. These privileges are essential to many practicing physicians, and they are an integral component of providing high-quality patient care. However, just as hospital privileges can benefit a medical professional, they can also be lost under certain circumstances. Medical professionals must be aware of the factors that can lead to the loss of hospital privileges, as this can have serious implications for
Continue Reading What Are the Most Common Reasons for the Loss of Hospital Privileges?

The legalization of medical marijuana in Illinois has been a huge boon to patients seeking relief from various ailments. However, there are certain licensing requirements that must be fulfilled before any person is allowed to legally purchase and use cannabis. Doctors, nurses, or other medical providers who prescribe medical marijuana will need to be sure to abide by all applicable laws and regulations. Failure to do so could not only affect their ability to prescribe the necessary medications to patients, but it could even result in discipline to a medical license or other consequences.
Illinois Medical Cannabis Law
Under the
Continue Reading Addressing Licensing Issues Related to Medical Marijuana in Illinois

The United States is a notoriously litigious society, and despite the crucial work that doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare workers do, they are at constant risk of lawsuits and investigations. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is frequently involved in these cases and their investigations can be ruthless and invasive. Those being investigated are frequently left wondering if they will have to defend themselves against baseless allegations with only their own testimony to assist them. Fortunately, expert witnesses may be able to help. Attorney Joseph Bogdan regularly serves as an expert witness for pharmacists being investigated by
Continue Reading Can an Expert Witness Help Me in My Disciplinary Hearing?

Few things can arrive in the mail that physicians and other healthcare providers dread more than a letter announcing an insurance audit. Whether this is from a private health insurance company or Medicaid/Medicare, audits mean a lot of paperwork, deadlines, and other bureaucratic complexities are in the future. Even a physician who believes herself to be in full compliance with proper billing procedures may be surprised to find that mistakes have been made – and if there are enough mistakes, that there could be serious professional consequences. Having the help of an Illinois professional license defense attorney can make
Continue Reading Medical Providers Can Face License Sanctions From Insurance Audits

Medical and pharmacy school are long, grueling, expensive processes. Over many years, students are expected to perform under tight deadlines, enormous pressure, and very little sleep. While many students can handle this without serious problems, others may struggle personally or with aspects of the medical education system that can leave them facing student remediation.
The prospect of facing remediation can be scary and confusing, and it can be difficult to know what to expect. It can also be difficult to know how much you should advocate for yourself versus leaving the process to the judgment of the remediation panel
Continue Reading Do I Need a Lawyer During a Medical Student Remediation Hearing?

Even after all the effort that doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants, and therapists put into getting educated, credentialed, and approved to practice, they face ongoing hurdles to maintain their ability to practice the healing arts. One of these hurdles is the requirement to maintain continuing education requirements. As the body of research from every field grows and expands, our knowledge about every area of professional practice has the potential to grow and expand accordingly; therefore, licensed medical practitioners of all kinds are required to continue learning about their field.
Licensed professionals are required to self-report how they are meeting their continuing
Continue Reading Could My License Be Suspended For Missing Continuing Education Requirements?

Getting a nursing license is a major accomplishment; not only does a prospective nurse have to go through years of school, but she must also pass extremely challenging tests and then apply for a license in the state in which she wishes to practice. Unfortunately, even if a student has excellent grades and performs well on the board examinations, she may be surprised to find her nursing license has been denied anyway. If you are in this situation, read on to learn why a nursing license may be denied and how you can get help from a professional license defense
Continue Reading I Passed the Boards. Why Is My Nursing License Being Denied?

Getting a real estate license in Illinois is no easy feat. In addition to licensing courses, exams, and completing training with a sponsoring broker, there is endless ongoing research into market trends, local housing prices, and government regulations. The threat of losing one’s real estate license because of a criminal conviction or for any other reason could mean years of hard work and personal investment gone to waste. If you are facing sanctions to your professional real estate license, make sure you speak with an Illinois professional license defense attorney right away.
Crimes That Can Trigger Real Estate License
Continue Reading Will My Real Estate License Be Revoked for a Criminal Conviction?

Several American nurses lost their jobs recently after they posted a video on social media describing the things they dislike about their jobs in labor and delivery. Even after the original posting was deleted, the video continued to make its way around the internet, leaving the nurses who originally posted it with no way to take it back or to get their faces out of the news.
This incident highlights the pitfalls of social media use for healthcare professionals, who, while certainly being entitled to their opinions about their job and patients, are at a heightened risk of professional sanctions
Continue Reading How Can Healthcare Professionals Use Social Media Safely?

Dentists spend many years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn the skill of dentistry. When taking into account the bureaucratic labor and fees, office and equipment financing, and staffing costs associated with setting up a practice, dental professionals have often invested enormous amounts of time and money by the time they are actually practicing on patients.
Unfortunately, this investment does not protect dentists from accusations of misconduct. Even when such accusations are entirely unfounded, dentists may face an uphill battle defending themselves from allegations of fraud, abuse, or other inappropriate behaviors. If you know or are worried that
Continue Reading How Can Illinois Dentists Lose Their Professional Licenses?

Studies estimate that more than 40 percent of doctors will be sued during their careers. As America becomes increasingly litigious, doctors can expect that rate to go up – and so can other healthcare professionals. Nurses, dentists, psychologists, social workers, and any other healthcare worker is at risk of any number of accusations – many of which may be partly false, unfounded, or stem from the accuser’s own mental unwellness.
Even in cases involving obviously false allegations, healthcare practitioners can find themselves defending their cause in front of their regulating board, to say nothing of the impact such allegations can
Continue Reading How Can A Professional Practitioner Defend Against False Allegations?

Social workers play a crucial role in helping people work through their problems and become effective, well-adjusted members of society. Whether social workers practice in child welfare agencies, addiction services, schools, or private practices, they help vulnerable people and communities deal with real-world problems.
Unfortunately, because of the often public-facing nature of their job, social workers often find themselves targeted by dissatisfied clients, parents, or coworkers. Social workers also carry the burden of performing professionally at a very high standard, protecting vulnerable people even at the expense of their own needs or desires. Sometimes, social workers make mistakes that jeopardize
Continue Reading Unethical Behaviors Can Lead to License Suspension for Social Workers

Accusations of Medicare fraud or abuse can have a significant impact on a healthcare provider’s ability to practice his or her profession. In addition to limiting the kinds of patients a provider can serve, Medicare provider revocation can be involved without other sanctions that may prevent a doctor from practicing altogether and may involve hefty fines. In one recent example, a Kentucky doctor was fined $720,000 and suspended from federal healthcare programs for fifteen years for submitting false claims to Medicare and Violating the False Claims Act.
If you are facing accusations of Medicare fraud, you need experienced, aggressive legal
Continue Reading What Should I Do if I Have Been Excluded as a Medicare Provider?

Psychologists face a tremendous amount of responsibility as they attempt to treat patients for some of the most complex, difficult-to-understand mental illnesses imaginable. Although many psychologists help patients overcome difficulties and learn to manage mental illness in a safe, productive way, other times a psychologist’s professional practice may lead patients to further harm. In the most extreme cases, patients may take their own lives, potentially exposing the psychologist to professional discipline for their treatment methods.

If you are being accused of contributing to a patient’s suicide, it is essential to take these accusations seriously and to enlist help in defending
Continue Reading Can a Psychologist’s License Be Suspended if a Patient Commits Suicide?

Many different healthcare professionals need hospital admitting privileges. While doctors are perhaps most commonly thought of as using hospitals to practice medicine, other professionals, such as nurses who work in birthing centers next to hospitals, need admitting privileges, too. Not being able to admit patients to a hospital could put patients at risk of serious injury or death, and healthcare workers simply may not be able to do their job without hospital admitting privileges. Unfortunately, loss of hospital privileges can happen for a number of reasons. If you are being threatened with loss of admitting privileges or have already
Continue Reading Can a Healthcare Professional Get Hospital Admitting Privileges Back?