HCPro.com: Health Information Compliance Insider

Every issue of Health Information Compliance Insider is packed with ready-to-use information worth thousands of dollars to you and your organization, like advance warning from Washington on when to expect changes to and guidance on HIPAA regulations and compliance advice from leading health care lawyers.

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June 2008 (Volume 5, Issue 6)	view entire issue

Follow five rules to make your HIPAA training program shine
When Community Health and Counseling Services (CHCS) assigned her the title of chief privacy officer in 2003, Rhonda Edgecomb, RHIT, CHP, welcomed several additional responsibilities. Among them was the daunting task of training more than 1,000 employees at more than 40 offices across Maine from the base office in Bangor. Overnight, Edgecomb morphed into what she calls "the HIPAA Queen"-ruler of all things related to privacy and security.

Workers' compensation: Understand rules for disclosures
Although HIPAA does detail the handling of PHI that stems from workers' compensation claims, there remains a good deal of confusion and uncertainty within the healthcare community about how to appropriately respond to requests for personal information. According to HIPAA, which disclosures are permissible, which are mandatory, and which are prohibited? HICI asked Jon A. Neiditz, an attorney at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP, in Atlanta, to spell out the rules and illustrate how and when hospitals should release patient information.

Maximize your time when training upper management
Editor's note: The following is the second article in a series on how to effectively train specific groups of staff members on HIPAA privacy and security compliance. They are the leaders of your hospital community-sometimes intimidating, and other times stubborn. But upper management staff members (e.g., the CEO, chief financial officer (CFO), and vice presidents of finance) may not completely understand their role in the protection of PHI. So make the time, even if it's for a few hours each year, to drive home the importance of HIPAA and the effect they can have in running a tight ship.

Other recently-published articles from Health Information Compliance Insider:

OCR complaints: Simple steps to smooth resolutions

BA agreements: Prevent problems and eliminate loopholes

2009 HIPAA forecast

Certified career boosters: How credentials help you

Ensure safe transfer of PHI when selling a practice

Honeypots: A sweet tool you can use to monitor snooping staff members

Discipline with the intent to educate when responding to HIPAA violations to minimize future incidents

Disaster preparedness: Design, update, and practice your disaster recovery and business continuity plans

Keep cell phone use compliant

Attention to detail, information exchange process makes Oregon DHS a compliance success story

Offshoring a potentially risky cost saver for organizations

HIPAA compliance in the ER

What you may not know about HIPAA but probably should

Train billing and coding staff members on HIPAA

Minimize mistakes when responding to the media

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