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*Call-in Scripts and privacy notices

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The OIG Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2003

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Compliance Hot Topics: Billing and Coding, EMTALA, Stark, HIPAA

Question of the Week

Welcome to Compliance Monitor Q&A.

Our mission is to answer your difficult compliance questions—and your simple ones, too. To submit a question, send it to Compliance Monitor Q & A editor Kate Alvarez at kalvarez@hcpro.com. We hope you enjoy this service and we welcome your feedback.

This week's questions

• Public emergencies and HIPAA
• Call-in Scripts and privacy notices

• Outliers: perform self-assessments to analyze your facility's risk

• How does your organization handle patient financial issues?

Q: Our municipality has a fire department with a fully functioning paramedic unit. How can the unit best comply with HIPAA requirements while treating patients in a public arena? Further, our airport has requested information in the past from medical events occurring on the airport premises for risk management assessments, logging care responses, and outcomes. The airport personnel are curious about what information they can continue to receive with respect to HIPAA?

A: When a health emergency occurs in public, HIPAA does not require fire or paramedic units to block public viewing of the event or take privacy measures. HIPAA does not intend to hamper emergency care, and the presence of bystanders should not prevent communication of needed vital information.

I believe HIPAA allows emergency medical staff to accept a bystander's claim of being a family member or friend when there is an apparent 'need-to-know' situation.

Staff should avoid casual discussions of health information with, or in front of, bystanders. The staff should only give the minimum necessary information to bystanders, such as where they are taking the patient for treatment to allow the family member or neighbor to assist or notify others.

It is best to discuss how to properly handle the media with your legal department.

A municipal airport is not a covered entity under HIPAA, unless staff deliver medical care, and therefore it does not have to follow the privacy rule regulations. However, with the exception of a legal requirement, covered entities such as physicians and paramedics may now require patient authorization or a discovery request before they disclose health information about an event to any inquiring entity, such as the airport.

This question was answered by Marion Neal, president of HIPAASimple.com. 800-279-3668

Ever wonder how Marion Neal started answering questions for Compliance Monitor Q&A? Well, you too can answer questions from your peers! Just Click here or see the information below.

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WE NEED YOUR EXPERTISE!

Join the Compliance Monitor Team! Compliance Monitor Q&A relies upon experts just like you to answer pressing compliance questions. We're looking for experts in coding, billing, documentation, HIPAA, EMTALA, Stark, laboratories, and many other areas of compliance.

If you are interested in answering questions from your peers, please e-mail Compliance Monitor editor Kate Alvarez.

AVOID BILLING FRAUD AND ABUSE AND GET ACCURATE REIMBURSEMENT FOR SERVICES RELATED TO YOUR CLINICAL TRIALS

Attend the 90-minute live audioconference, "Medicare Coverage for Clinical Trials: How to comply and get full reimbursement." Designed for billing and finance professionals, compliance officers, investigators, and research coordinators, this program will use case studies to help you apply the billing regulations to real-life situations and implementation challenges. This program will be held on Friday, November 21, 2003.

To register, or learn more, CLICK HERE or call 800/650-6787. Be sure to mention source code EZ23159B.

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Click here to take our quick survey on your financial policies and procedures.

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To find out more about self-assessment of risk, order the pay-per-view article "Outliers: perform self-assessments to analyze your facility's risk." The cost is $10. Subscribers to the online version of Strategies for Health Care Compliance have free access to this article. Subscribers to the print edition can find it in their October issues.

A $30 steal.
You can read this article and much more in the October issue of Strategies for Health Care Compliance. Your cost: Five stories for only $30. You'll also learn what's new with private payer mandates, how to coordinate with payers when testing for transactions and code sets compliance, how to handle guidelines for self-disclosing, and learn more about the OIG's compliance 'hit list.'

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Unhappy patients can cost more than you realize

The internal culture at a hospital has a lot to do with patient satisfaction levels, and that in turn can make a difference in revenue and liability. We've planned an audioconference that will show you how to make changes that count.

You'll learn to watch for the common pitfalls, including working with the various departments to ensure a good network for communication between departments, how to provide better patient services, improve documentation to reduce patient and malpractice claims, and develop strategies to manage the compliant process.

Join us for "Patient Satisfaction and the Bottom Line: Successful Strategies to Raise Revenue and Reduce Liability" on Thursday, November 20 beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern. To register or to learn more, CLICK HERE or call our Customer Service Team at 800-650-6787. Please mention source code EZ23271A when you call.

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A: To read the answer to this question, click here.

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To submit your answer, go to the Question of the Week at Complianceinfo.com.

Here are the answers to the last survey:

When will your organization begin auditing its HIPAA compliance program?

• Within the next six months: 68%
• In 7 to 12 months: 17%
• In 12+ months: 9%
• We do not plan to audit: 6%

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Network with your audit colleagues

"Audit Talk" is a new, moderated chat forum that members can use to post messages or questions for their peers 24-hours-a-day. "Audit Talk" offers a free forum to network, share ideas, and solve problems for those in the audit industry. Getting involved is easy. To subscribe, just send your request to this e-mail: owner-audit_talk@hcpro.com.

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You've been benefiting from our informative e-mail newsletter, so why not pass on this resource to your peers? Sign up a colleague and get $20 off your next purchase on HCPro's Healthcare Marketplace!

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Send your comments and questions about Compliance Monitor Q&A to:

Kate Alvarez
Editorial Assistant
kalvarez@hcpro.com