By Matt Fisher – Potentially lost in all of the privacy, security, and health IT news coming out of the HIMSS Annual Meeting the week of April 11th, the ONC updated its Guide to Privacy and Security of Electronic Health Information (the “Guide”).
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By Matt Fisher – Health information technology or HealthIT is in the healthcare spotlight, but remains a constantly changing field. One of the primary initiatives shining the brightest spotlight on HealthIt is the Meaningful Use program.
By Matt Fisher – Advisory Opinion 15-04 issued by the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) on March 25, 2015 offers some warnings when entering into preferred provider agreements. The new Advisory Opinion arose in the context of laboratory services, but the principles discussed are easily applicable to any preferred provider arrangement. The advice and insight are important in light of the increasing desire among providers to identify and enter into preferred provider agreements.
By Matt Fisher – The increased focus on HIPAA compliance and anticipated second round of audits makes clear the necessity for an organization to develop and implement comprehensive policies and procedures. The many settlement and breach announcements demonstrate that many issues occur because individuals do not fully understand what HIPAA is or what it does. A lack of knowledge, however, can be combatted though with good training
By Matt Fisher – Advisory Opinion 15-02, issued by the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) for the Department of Health and Human Services on February 13, 2015 offers some, albeit minimal, relief for providers excluded from participation on Medicare and other federal healthcare programs.
By Matt Fisher – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) made a major announcement on Monday, January 26th about payment models under Medicare. For the first time and in a very aggressive manner, CMS set a firm timeframe for implementation of alternative payment methodologies. The new timeframe furthers the goals of the Affordable Care Act in changing the manner in which healthcare is delivered and paid for in the country.
By Matt Fisher – A recent survey of HIPAA compliance conducted by NueMD revealed a startling range of knowledge and compliance with HIPAA. Even though HIPAA has been around since 1996 and was updated to include the HITECH Act modifications in 2009, many medical practices revealed they were unaware of the full scope of HIPAA requirements, did not necessarily understand what they did know, or have not implemented full compliance programs.
On Monday, December 8th, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the Department of Health and Human Services announced another new HIPAA settlement. As with most recent settlements, the latest settlement is being used to set up an example of what not to do.
The recent uproar over Ebola brought HIPAA in emergency situations to the forefront when it comes to what information may be shared and when. The various healthcare facilities that treated Ebola patients were constantly grilled for updates on patients as well as information relating to the movements and other activities of those patients.