Articles by: Gary Pritts

Gary consults in the areas of physician practice management, medical information systems, HIPAA compliance, health and productivity management and general business management. Gary serves on the board of Lakewood Hospital, one of the Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals, and is a founder and past president of eHealth Ohio, and is active with numerous professional organizations. He served as product development manager for the EDI clearinghouse division of Quadax, a regional clearinghouse, and understands provider organizations from his 6 years as President and owner of Premier Rehab, a Medicare Certified Rehab agency with two Cleveland locations. His computer background includes 15 years in various computer and computer service organizations. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from Purdue University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
by Gary Pritts | Nov 27, 2012 | HIPAA
The Office of Civil Rights yesterday published detailed guidance regarding the provisions in the HIPAA Privacy regulations that deal with de-identification of protected health information (PHI). The general idea of this provision is that healthcare data sets may be...
by Gary Pritts | Nov 21, 2012 | HIPAA
With the meaningful use incentives, hospitals and physician practices are conducting their HIPAA Security Risk Analysis per 45 CFR 164.308(a)(1). The risk analysis focuses on the confidentiality, integrity and availability of health information. The last of these...
by Gary Pritts | Oct 16, 2012 | HIPAA
The HITECH Act, in particular the meaningful use incentive program for physicians and hospitals, has placed the computer security risk analysis in the spotlight. Meaningful use requires a risk analysis, also called a risk assessment, as per the HIPAA Security rules in...
by Gary Pritts | Aug 9, 2012 | CMS Quality Payment Programs
CMS has announced that providers – hospitals and physicians – who received meaningful use incentive payments are now being audited. CMS has outsourced this function to the New York audit contractor Figliozzi & Company. Providers who fail to produce documentation...
by Gary Pritts | Jun 27, 2012 | HIPAA
Yesterday, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), the state Medicaid agency, agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $1,700,000 to settle possible violations of the HIPAA Security rule. DHSS further agreed to a...