Tips to comply with HIPAA
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, July 13, 2009
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Step into the office of Brandon Ho, HIPAA compliance specialist for the Army in Honolulu, and you won't see a compliance officer scrambling through mountains of paperwork regarding new HIPAA laws.
President Barack Obama signed into law February 17, 2009 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that includes new HIPAA laws, and Ho is certainly aware of them.
But panic? Urgency?
Not quite.
"Overzealous compliance," Ho says when HealthLeaders Media asked him what was the No. 1 pitfall for HIPAA privacy and security officers. "I've actually seen privacy practices where providers are so overly zealous with regulations and compliance with HIPAA that they end up spending more money than they ever have to. They just have to look at ways to comply in the best and most efficient way."
Ho says even with new HIPAA laws (in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act), privacy and security officers need to keep it simple and not feel the need to revamp the house.
Ho, affectionately called "The HIPAA Guy" at Pacific Regional Medical Command, Tripler Army Medical Center, spoke to HealthLeaders Media about his HIPAA compliance program at his Honolulu facility and the 121st Medical Group in Korea and Camp Zama in Japan.
He also offered advice for fellow HIPAA privacy and security officers in a time of changing laws and regulations and increased patient awareness of privacy rights.
Read the full story and Ho’s tips in a HealthLeaders Media piece by Dom Nicastro.
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