Studies show that the vapor generated from electronic cigarettes has variable amounts of nicotine and potential harmful toxins. Therefore, it is not as harmless as your patients may have been led to believe. We recommend that you create an office policy beforehand to avert similar situations in your office.

As doctors continue to implement electronic medical records, it is important to ensure that a breach of privacy does not occur. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) encourages practices to safeguard medical records with passwords, encryption, business associate agreements, staff in-services, and policies and procedures.

It is the physician's responsibility to monitor and supervise the medical assistant and ensure he or she is working within the scope of practice.

When choosing a vendor, ask all pertinent questions. For instance, history of the vendor, current and past clients, ownership of data, past legal issues, cost, and responsibility for accuracy of data. Always obtain a list of references.

Even if the business does not participate in social media, most employees use social media in their personal lives. When social media is left unmonitored, medical offices also face the very real risk of violating federal privacy laws by breaching patient confidentiality.