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Issue 12, December 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Just the facts: Handling police inquiries and criminal subpoenas

  At most health care organizations, subpoenas often concern criminal issues and come from criminal...

• A tough subject: Creating policies for privacy and security breaches

  In many HIM and human resources offices, talk of sanctions policies causes discomfort. "We have...

• Case study: How one small health care organization is tightening up security as

  Jeffrey Bardin specializes in helping small- and medium-sized health care organizations prepare for...

• HIPAA guidance: Research prescreenings could elicit protected health data, invok

  A HIPAA privacy rule guidance issued last month has severely reduced the value of using a review...

• Privacy Primer: How to help your staff understand accounting for disclosures of

  The HIPAA privacy regulations give individuals the right to receive an accounting of certain...

Issue 11, November 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Small provider finds ways to keep staff interested in HIPAA privacy

  There is no one correct way to train staff on HIPAA privacy. In fact, you probably need to use a...

• Use these strategies for measuring privacy compliance plan effectiveness

  Measuring privacy program effectiveness will help your organization focus on limited resources...

• Transactions and code sets Q&A with CMS: Is the contingency plan for nonMedicare

  Editor's note: The following questions were answered by Karen Trudel, deputy director of the CMS...

• Beware of HIPAA's seven deadly sins

  OCR describes its enforcement of HIPAA's privacy rule as limited, complaint-driven, and largely...

• Privacy Primer: Train your staff to respond appropriately to patient requests to

  This month's Privacy Primer will discuss the circumstances under which covered entities may deny...

Issue 10, October 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Electronic claims rule has both privacy and security implications

  With few exceptions, providers must submit all claims to Medicare electronically by October 16...

• Hungerford Hospital teaches staff to have a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T

  It's not everyday you see a health information management (HIM) director dressed as Aretha Franklin...

• Q&A with Kate Borten: What is the best approach for facility switchboard operato

  Editor's note: Kate Borten, CISSP, addresses readers' questions in this Q&A column. After managing...

• Know what counts as notice when you have to respond to a subpoena

  Responding to subpoenas is one of the great banes of the health care industry. Because the industry...

• Avoid five common pitfalls when preparing for security

  The final security rule requires covered entities to analyze their risk to determine what...

• Privacy Primer: Train your staff on how to respond to PHI amendment requests-Par

  The HIPAA privacy regulations give individuals the right to request amendments to their PHI. These...

Issue 9, September 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Don't mistake CMS' recent transactions guidance for a free ride

  Editor's note: At the time BOH went to press, the interim final rule for electronic submission of...

• PacificSource Health Plans makes staff training engaging, memorable

  A character called "The Regulator" who goes back in time to take on Attila the Hun sounds more like...

• OCR may not be the only HIPAA police

  If you ask a privacy official what agency enforces the HIPAA privacy rule, the answer you will most...

• Know how CMS' patient-rights standards relate to privacy rule requirements

  CMS' Conditions of Participation for hospitals include the following confidentiality of medical...

• Focus on 'good-faith efforts' when preparing for HIPAA transactions

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has dropped the other shoe. On July 24, 2003...

• Privacy Primer: Train your personnel to provide patients proper access to protec

  The HIPAA privacy regulations give individuals the right to inspect and copy their PHI and specify...

Issue 8, August 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Know what JCAHO standards say about patient confidentiality

  The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is not currently using surveys to enforce HIPAA's privacy rule...

• Use audits to monitor, enforce compliance with minimum necessary

  The privacy rule may not have an auditing requirement, but auditing is the only way to ensure...

• Q&A with Kate Borten: Does HIPAA prohibit faxing?

  Editor's note: Kate Borten, CISSP, addresses readers' questions in this Q&A column. After managing...

• Include trading partner provisions in all of your business associate contracts

  The final security rule eliminated chain of trust agreements and required covered facilities to add...

• Privacy Primer: Train your personnel to provide patients proper access to protec

  The HIPAA privacy regulations give individuals the right to inspect and copy their PHI and specify...

Issue 7, July 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Ongoing efforts will help covered entities remain compliant

  Your facility could have policies and procedures for every privacy rule requirement, but they must...

• Lee Memorial calls on a hippie named Chip for some help with training

  In order to catch the attention of staff members and keep them interested, Lee Memorial centered...

• Follow these strategies for auditing and monitoring HIPAA compliance

  Now that your facility has implemented new policies and procedures to comply with HIPAA's privacy...

• Train the trainer for compliance, implementation efforts

  Many privacy officials led efforts to provide training to staff before the privacy rule's April 14...

• Tip of the month: Analyze preemption statutes when addressing pyschotherapy note

  Take a close look at state laws before developing policies and procedures for complying with the...

• CEO HIPAA transaction alert: Get a contingency plan

  Smart health care chief executive officers (CEOs) need to prepare for HIPAA's mandated transition...

Issue 6, June 2, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• HHS releases first installment of enforcement rule

  The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) encourages voluntary compliance by covered entities, but it can...

• Don't take transactions testing lightly

  Contrary to what some facilities believe, the next major HIPAA compliance date is not the security...

• Convey these five key points about HIPAA privacy to your staff

  April 14 came and went, but privacy compliance efforts are far from over. Many facilities will...

• Know when the privacy rule permits disclosures to public health authorities

  The recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has left some facilities wondering...

• Fundraising was hard enough before April 14: The privacy rule hits charity wor

  Endowments on the nonprofit side of the health care industry have seen better times. Many reflect...

Issue 5, May 5, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Consider using a 'layered' notice of privacy practices

  The privacy rule's requirement to provide patients with a notice of privacy practices is meant to...

• Take a performance improvement approach to HIPAA compliance

  Don't look at HIPAA as just another costly, burdensome compliance effort. Instead, take a...

• Casa Grande Regional Medical Center uses levels of access to comply with minimum

  The privacy rule's minimum necessary standard requires staff to only use PHI necessary to do their...

• White River Health System relies on paper for accounting of disclosures

  The final privacy rule requires facilities to account for all disclosures of PHI, except those made...

• Not on your behalf

  April may be the cruelest month. The privacy rule went live on the 14, taxes were due on the 15...

• Train your work force to deliver proper notice of privacy practices

  In April's Privacy Primer, we discussed the content of a notice of privacy practices required by...

Issue 4, April 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Don't mistake addressable requirements to mean optional

  Some health care organizations may think they can choose not to implement the final security rule's...

• Hospital staff must review and sign off on sanctions policy

  If you know an employee has violated a patient's privacy and do nothing about it, your facility...

• Q&A with Kate Borten: How do you limit patient access to the laboratory reports

  Editor's note: Kate Borten, CISSP, addresses readers' questions in this Q&A column. Since managing...

• Can HIPAA survive transactions?

  On February 20, HHS published final amendments to the transactions and code sets regulations. The...

• Privacy officials wear many hats; list minimum necessary, policies and procedure

  Many privacy officials are responsible for a lot more than HIPAA privacy. According to our recent...

• Privacy Primer: Train health care personnel to understand how to provide a HIPAA

  The privacy regulations require certain covered entities to give an individual notice of the uses...

Issue 3, March 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Final security rule released

  Final security rule released. Editor's note: The final security rule had not been published at...

• Don't let patients mistake OHCAs for partnerships

  Organized health care arrangements (OHCAs) can allow health care organizations to manage care in...

• Make HIPAA a part of your facility's PR efforts

  Staff aren't the only people you may want to educate about HIPAA. Informing the public about your...

• Define key terms in your notice of privacy practices

  Several aspects of the privacy rule, such as what qualifies as "demographic information" and...

• Incorporate some security into your privacy training

  Although there are two different rules, it's impossible to completely separate privacy from...

• Poor training can spell disaster for covered entities

  Training on privacy policies and procedures should be near the top of every covered entity's...

• Privacy Primer: Make sure your work force understands individual patient rights

  The HIPAA privacy regulations grant patients significant rights to understand and control how...

Issue 2, February 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

Issue 1, January 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

Issue 21, May 28, 2003

• Interventional procedures cause coding confusion

  Interventional radiology procedures allow physicians to pinpoint diagnoses with minimal invasion...

Issue 7, July 28, 2003

• Privacy Primer: Train staff to respond appropriately to patient requests for res

  The HIPAA privacy regulations allow patients to request restrictions on the following uses or...

Issue 2, February 21, 2003

• Don’t wait another year to work on business associate contracts

  Covered entities other than small health plans can continue using existing business associate...

• Establish categories for fundraising, determine how to obtain authorization

  Potential donors are everywhere—and your facility needs an organized approach to determine...

• Final transactions and code sets changes are still in limbo

  Despite the fact that the final transactions and code sets changes were not published on December...

• Focus on maintaining strong customer service when handling patient complaints

  Responding to complaints of privacy breaches quickly and compassionately is the first step to...

• Legal disclosures: Know what the privacy rule says about responding to subpoen

  By Edward F. ShayHealth care providers and health plans routinely receive subpoenas seeking the...

• Train staff on de-identification of health information and limited data sets to

  By William H. Roach Jr., MS, JD, of Gardner Carton & DouglasThe HIPAA privacy rule permits...

Issue 1, January 21, 2003

• Focus on patient interaction, minimum necessary when training pharmacy staff

  If your facility has a pharmacy, its staff probably don’t have to worry about many privacy...

• OCR focuses on voluntary compliance, provides guidance

  The vast majority of complaints to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) are resolved through informal...

• Pay attention to HIPAA’s hidden private right of action

  By Edward F. ShayThe conventional wisdom about enforcement of HIPAA’s privacy standards is...

• Prepare for privacy by addressing security

  Editor’s note: BOH went to print prior to December 27, 2002, the day HHS identified for...

• Privacy Primer: Train fundraising staff on how much PHI they can use

  By William H. Roach Jr., MS, JD, of Gardner Carton & DouglasFor many health care providers...

• Work with other organizations to prepare for transactions and code sets

  Collaborating on transactions and code sets compliance with other organizations will allow you to...