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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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Health Information Compliance Insider

Issue 12, December 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Oregon develops NPI and provider authentication data repository

  Concerned about the quality, availability, and completeness of CMS' NPI database, Oregon healthcare...

• Healthcare providers encouraged to encrypt data at rest

  State laws requiring notification of a security breach to patients whose PHI has been compromised...

• Handle requests to amend PHI

  Editor's note: This excerpt was adapted from HCPro's book The Privacy Officer's Handbook. For...

Issue 11, November 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Healthcare entities to face random OIG security audits

  Audits are a fact of life for healthcare entities, but the recent HIPAA security audit by HHS...

• Handle a security breach with a solid plan

  Editor's note: Last month, we learned what to do in the event of a security breach. In this issue...

• Handle an OCR investigation into a patient complaint

  A disgruntled patient accuses you of failing to protect his or her PHI, and thereby violating his...

Issue 10, October 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Revisit your facility's incident response plan

  The HIPAA security rule requires your facility to have an incident response plan in place. Many...

• New privacy tool sorts out disclosures

  Public health professionals trying to sort out the intricacies of HIPAA and other federal and state...

• Improve your HIPAA policies and procedures

  The HIPAA privacy and security rules have been enforceable for several years now, but many...

Issue 9, September 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Make HIPAA work for you: Take a customer service angle for better PR

  Every time a patient asks a question about HIPAA, your staff members have an obligation to answer...

• Domestic abuse complicates PHI disclosure rules

  Domestic abuse is a difficult matter with which health-care providers must occasionally contend...

• Manage subpoenas with a clear legal record definition

  As providers replace traditional paper records with electronic document management systems (EDMS...

Issue 8, August 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• The OCR on enforcement: Patients' rights get priority

  Patients have consistently complained to the OCR that they're having trouble accessing their...

• Privacy officers find their roles expanding

  When the HIPAA privacy rule first took effect four years ago, most privacy officers were...

• Don't forget security-protect patients and your business

  Physician practices are still struggling to comply with HIPAA, particularly the security rule. Many...

Issue 7, July 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Fast track your NPI implementation

  When CMS announced that it would not enforce the May 23 deadline for NPI implementation, many...

• Build HIPAA into your overall compliance program

  One way to save time and money is to integrate your HIPAA compliance program with your...

• Revisit patient amendments to ensure compliance

  Handling patient amendments to medical records can be one of the trickier dilemmas facing health...

Issue 6, June 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• OIG begins auditing for security rule compliance

  The Office of Inspector General (OIG) says that it is currently in the process of conducting HIPAA...

• Clear up the confusion surrounding minors' privacy

  Minors' privacy rights are a confusing aspect of HIPAA because they involve a tangle of state and...

• Ensure compliance in the long-term care setting

  All covered entities face the task of HIPAA compliance. However, long-term care (LTC) facilities...

Issue 5, May 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Tread carefully when creating online forums

  As more healthcare providers set up online patient forums and support groups, some are debating...

• Define your mailings to ensure compliance

  Sending patients appointment reminders or other common mailings may seem like such a simple task...

• Revisit deidentification requirements to ensure compliance

  The privacy rule allows covered entities to deidentify PHI for uses that the rule would otherwise...

• NCVHS, WEDI recommend NPI delay

  Editor's note: HHS had not released any change to the NPI implementation schedule as of...

Issue 4, April 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Take care when navigating OCR investigations

  An investigation by OCR into a HIPAA privacy complaint can be long and stressful, but there is...

• Weigh the challenges when defining the legal health record

  Although defining the legal health record might previously have been a fairly straightforward...

• Avoid these ongoing compliance problems in your facility

  Use processes, audits to ensure success More than three years after the privacy rule's...

• Prepare now for security breach notification

  Is your healthcare organization ready to comply with the information security breach notification...

Issue 3, March 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Revisit the definition of healthcare operations

  Although HIPAA allows healthcare providers broad latitude to use protected health information...

• HISPC project aims at health information exchange

  A national effort to identify and break down the barriers to electronic health information exchange...

• Refocus your physician training efforts

  It isn't news that many physicians are busy and uninterested in HIPAA-which can make training them...

Issue 2, February 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Approach vendors now about NPI upgrades

  For many providers, one potential roadblock on the way to successfully meeting the May 23...

• Revisit the privacy rule's directory requirements

  Covered entities have had to comply with the privacy rule's directory provisions for almost three...

• Prepare for new federal rules on record retention

  Dust off that old record retention policy. The Supreme Court recently made changes to the Federal...

Issue 1, January 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Don't expect 2007 to be a quiet year for HIPAA

  Aside from the publication of the final enforcement rule in February and the ongoing reports of...

• Ask the Insider

  Our organization is considering terminating a BA agreement (BAA) with a company that does patient...