The Situation It was in March 2016 when two California hospitals, Chino Valley Medical Center in Chino and Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville, were attacked by hackers demanding a ransom. And security experts are predicting more ransomware attacks to come in the immediate future. Let’s face it: Healthcare organizations are dealing with an alarmingly fast-growing…
About the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Audit Program The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has begun its next phase of audits of covered entities and their business associates. This is part of their ongoing efforts to assess compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy regulations which…
The increase in weather changes, along with recent natural disasters (think Hurricane Katrina, Irma, and Florence, the latest one), has accentuated the importance of electronic health records (EHRs) and their accessibility. Here is the primary importance: Whatever structures and systems are developed, they must be in place and functioning pre-disaster. Only a little over half…
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has officially started phase two of its HIPAA audit program, with notification letters being sent to covered entities about their inclusion in the desk audit portion. The letters were sent out on July 11, with 167 covered entities selected. OCR’s goal with the desk audits is to review how healthcare…
ICD-10 grace period ends, but it’s not the end of the world During the first year following ICD-10 implementation in October 2015, physician practices have had nearly a year to adapt themselves to ICD-10 coding. This grace period, also known as ICD-10 “relaxed rules”, notes that Medicare review contractors could not deny physicians’ claims if…
According to The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), patients have more opportunities today than ever before to use tools such as patient portals to access their health information. But have you ever tried to get your medical records from your doctor? Actually, it’s not that easy. A 2013 change to the HIPAA Act requires…
On October 14th, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Final Rule implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The goal is to improve the quality of healthcare by structuring the different value-based payment models that have replaced the traditional fee-for-service system. This rule finalizes policies to…
Based on the data from the first nine months of 2016, the number of ransomware attacks this year will be four times higher than last year, according to a study from Beazley, a data breach response insurance company. Source: http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2016/10/26/430541.htm Healthcare organizations are more and more the targets of malicious hacker attacks. Ransomware, a type of malware, is clearly…
The transition to a Republican administration and a Republican-controlled Congress in January 2017 is expected to bring some changes to the healthcare industry. So what implications on health IT, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), and on Privacy and Security might be expected under the new administration? Let us dare take a glimpse…
There is an increasing pressure for healthcare organizations to produce timely and accurate documentation. Hospital staff often feels burn-out fueled by documentation rework and retrospective queries. Staff burnout can lead to a rise in medical errors, denials, and costs. What’s highly needed is an efficient technology that complements patient care by meeting two major expectations:…