Pub. 3 2019 Issue 1

By David J. Castleton Don’t Put Off That Checkup! It is common knowledge that a regular medical checkup is important for many reasons. A checkup can: • Prevent illness or disease • Identify risk factors for common diseases • Detect disease that has no apparent symptoms • Provide an opportunity for medical professional to counsel patients and to promote healthy behavior • Update clinical data Just as medical checkups are important to monitor a patient’s health, legal checkups for medical practices are important to: • Identify areas of risk in your operations • Ensure compliance with federal and state regulatory, licensing and operational requirements • Identify areas of the practice that expose you to loss, penalties, violations, overpayments or exclusion from certain payors • Coordinate counsel of advisors and consultants • Prevent liability Practice checkups are key to insuring your practice does not get blindsided with problems that are avoidable and pre- ventable. It also can help you identify a treatment for those issues that have a cure early on. A checkup can be simple or detailed, depending on the scope of protection you want. Some of the areas of review or ques- tions to be asked include the following: 1. Organizational Documents (e.g., Articles of Incor- poration, Bylaws, Certificate of Organization, Op- erating Agreement) a. Are the organizational documents up to date? b. Are the organizational documents being followed? c. Do the organizational documents need to be amend- ed to reflect current or anticipated courses of action? 2. Books and Records a. Is the minute book up to date? b. Are the stock certificates properly issued and ac- counted for? www.UtahAFP.org | 26