*HIPAA and the switchboard
*Charging for intramuscular injections

Friday,
December 26, 2003
Vol. 6, No. 103

Visit Complianceinfo.com

SUBSCRIBE to Compliance Monitor

SUBSCRIBE to Health Care Auditing Weekly

Join the Compliance Monitor team!

On Complianceinfo.com

Sample compliance policies and procedures. (For subscribers to Strategies for Health Care Compliance only)

Sample audit programs. (For subscribers to Health Care Auditing Strategies only)

The OIG Work Plan for Fiscal Year 2003

Ask the Expert

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

• HIPAA and the switchboard
• Charging for intramuscular injections

• Pay-Per-View article: How to develop a financial policy

• How does your organization handle patient financial issues?

Q: "What is the best approach for facility switchboard operators when they receive calls asking for a patient's room number? Do we need to obtain consent from the patient?"

A: The privacy rule talks about how to release patient information, even a patient's room number. Patients must be given an opportunity to opt out of being listed in a facility directory containing name, location, and general condition. Patients must also be given an opportunity to restrict some of that information-for example, to omit general condition. The directory listing for these patients must be blocked or otherwise labeled so the switchboard operator does not give out the information. Otherwise, if patients agree to the listing, the operator may give out patient room numbers when visitors asks for patients by name.

Note: HIPAA does not require the use of a consent form for any purpose. In the case of directory opt-out, HIPAA does not specify the form this takes. But organizations should take care to formally document the patient's wishes. While many hospitals have long permitted directory opt-out for people in the public eye, under HIPAA they must make sure that all patients understand they have this right.

This question answered by Kate Borten, CISSP, who addresses readers' questions in a Q&A column for Briefings on HIPAA, an HCPro publication.

Back to top

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.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION AND STRATEGIES TO HELP YOU MANAGE OIG FOCUS AREAS FOR 2004

E/M coding. Consultations. Incident-to services and supplies. Long distance physician claims. Office of Inspector General (OIG) enforcement officials have turned their attention to physician practices, and these four high focus areas, carried over from last year, are not going away. Plus, the OIG includes eight more topics for physician practices in 2004. It's a task just to understand all the issues and stay on track with your compliance program.

HCPro can help you with your physician practice compliance efforts. Attend the 90-minute live audioconference, "2004 OIG Work Plan for Physician Practices: How to Get Ready and Stay in Compliance."

This program will be held on Friday, January 23, 2004. Click here to register or learn more, or call 800/650-6787 and mention source code EZ24175C.

Back to top

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

Back to top

To find out more about building your own policy, order the pay-per-view article " How to develop a financial policy." 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 December issues.

A $30 steal.
You can read this article and much more in the December issue of Strategies for Health Care Compliance. Your cost: Five stories for only $30. You'll also learn what to do if you have a qui tam relator, how to avoid four common security pitfalls to help your facility rein in technology spending, about the cost of compliance, and you can learn solutions for drafting Stark compliant physician contracts

Back to top

Medicare reform: Get the inside scoop from key Senate negotiator

Join HCPro on Thursday, January 15, 2004, for the 90-minute live audioconference, "Medicare Reform Act: What You Need to Know to Survive and Thrive." Colin Roskey, the former health policy advisor and counsel to the Senate Finance Committee, will present his insights from his experiences inside the conference committee--and then address questions, helping hospitals implement the key reimbursement provisions, identify compliance obstacles, and understand the true intent behind the provisions in the new Medicare law.

Click here to register or learn more. Or, call 800/650-6787 and mention source code EZ24615B.

Back to top

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

Back to top

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%

Back to top

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.

Back to top

Share the news

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!

Back to top

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

Kate Alvarez
Editorial Assistant
kalvarez@hcpro.com