Rachel C. Meyer

On December 6, 2022, McGrath North held its Privacy & Data Protection Summit at the Scott Conference Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The over 100 attendees from almost 70 companies at the half-day event had the opportunity to hear speakers and panelists, including guest experts from the industry, share insights on key topics including:  

McGrath North is sponsoring and conducting our 14th Annual Seminar for Accounting Professionals in Omaha, Nebraska.  

On April 27^th, 2023, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the “My Health, My Data” Act (“MHMD”), a piece of legislation that will have a profound impact on the treatment of consumer health data in the state of Washington. The goal of MHMD is to expand the protections granted to consumer health data beyond the scope covered by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. Here is what you need to know about the new law:  

On December 1, 2022, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released much-anticipated guidance on the use of online tracking technologies by Covered Entities and Business Associates under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The guidance bulletin was issued amid a backdrop of class action lawsuits, state and federal regulator inquiries and media scrutiny with respect to tracking technologies on websites and mobile applications by healthcare organizations and other HIPAA-regulated entities. The guidance has far-reaching implications for HIPAA regulated entities that utilize online platforms, and many organizations will need to update their use of tracking technologies in order to maintain compliance with HIPAA. Read on to find out how this new guidance may affect your organization.  

Covenants not to compete are one tool used by employers and buyers of a business to protect valuable business assets. To learn the basics on covenants not to compete, read our noncompete article from February. It is important to keep in mind that the drafting of noncompetes, whether in the employment context or in connection with the sale of a business, is not a “one-size fits all” process. If you are drafting, seeking to enforce or trying to contest a covenant to not compete, you need to know more than whether the covenant is enforceable as written.  You also need to understand how the law governing enforcement of the noncompete may or may not allow a court to respond if faced with an overlybroad noncompete.  

How a buyer plans to pay for a business it is acquiring must be decided early on in the process because it can have a significant impact on the timing and complexity of the deal. A buyer may use cash, debt, equity, stock swaps, mezzanine financing, leveraged buyout, seller financing, or a combination of any of these methods to pay the purchase price.