Health IT, HIPAA, and the CMS Incentive Programs Blog
For physicians, hospitals, government agencies, and business associates45 CFR 164.308(a)(1), 45 CFR 164.312(a)(2)(iv) and 45 CFR 164.306(d)(3) Explained
5/23/2018 Editor's Note: In April 2018, the Meaningful Use rules program has been renamed "Promoting Interoperability". Nonetheless, the language of this requirement are unchanged and this post remains relevant in 2018. The Meaningful Use rules, part of the HITECH...
Wake-up Call for Business Associates – Comply with HIPAA Now
Last month Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed suit against Accretive Health, Inc., a company which provides revenue cycle management services for two Minnesota Health Systems – Fairview Health Services and North Memorial Health Care. According to the...
First OCR HIPAA Audits Underway
Adam Greene, JD, MPH, a former regulator in HHS, recently shared details about the random audit program begun by the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The audit targets are selected using stratified random samples based on a database of covered entities created by OCR...
Common Wireless Feature, WPS, Readily Hacked
An industry-standard feature on wireless routers marketed to consumers and small businesses, Wi Fi Protected Setup (WPS), is vulnerable to a simple "brute force" attack. Free tools are already available to gain access to these routers. Making matters worse, it has...
New HIPAA Obligations for EHR vendors and VARs are Coming
EHR Authors and Value Added Resellers (VARs) will soon have their own HIPAA obligations. At present, EHR Authors and VARs are contractually obligated by the terms of any HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) they have signed. Soon, EHR Authors and VARs (and all...
HIPAA and Facebook
Facebook, and other Social Media including Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and others are a reality of mainstream society. Employers in general, including HIPAA covered entities, are grappling with this new reality. On the one hand, social media have been proven to be a...
JCAHO Weighs in: “No texting of physician orders”
The Joint Commission (JCAHO) weighed in recently regarding the issue of physicians using text messages to transmit orders. They didn't explicitly state that their opinion was related to the HIPAA regulations, but we infer that HIPAA was part of the thought process....
OIG To Review Portable Device Security, OCR HIPAA Enforcement
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the agency's watchdog, has released its annual work plan. It is 117 pages specify hundreds of work items reviewing every nook and cranny of the health system. Medicare and Medicaid...
