Mobile devices (phones, tablets, laptops) are being utilized more and more in healthcare organizations. They can increase work efficiency and offer convenience to both providers, employees and patients. However, mobile devices are commonly involved in data breaches and are at risk of being lost ...
News of PHI breaches have been flooding the media of late, and protecting your patients’ PHI and other personal information is imperative. Millions of individuals of have been affected in just a couple of high profile data breaches. A draft bill, “Data Security and Breach Notification Act” (the ...
In early September, Secretary Tom Price of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced his agency needs “to focus more on the most recent breaches and clarify when entities have taken action to resolve the issues that might have led to their breaches.” Following along with ...
Merit-Based Incentive Payment System The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued their Quality Payment Program (QPP) Year 2 proposed rule, with a comment period through August 21, 2017. The Program’s main goals are to: Improve health outcomes Spend wisely Minimize the ...
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, individuals have general rights to access and obtain a copy of their health information. Covered entities may require individuals to request access in writing (if individuals are informed of this requirement), or by electronic means (for example, via a patient ...
We all know how imperative it is to protect our patients’ PHI. And we all have policies and procedures in place (or should have) to ensure our providers, staff and business associates are following legal requirements surrounding uses and disclosures of PHI and ePHI. But are you monitoring to ...
What is a Business Associate, and how do we know if we need an agreement? As defined by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a Business Associate (BA) is “a person or entity that performs certain functions or activities that involve the use or disclosure of protected health ...
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has published a resource guide for measuring compliance program effectiveness. During a roundtable meeting in January of this year, OIG compliance professionals and staff discussed all seven elements of a compliance program and suggested ideas about ...
The Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is the new payment mechanism in which eligible clinicians earn a performance-based payment adjustment (positive or negative) to their Medicare payments. It is important to note that MIPS adjustments are budget neutral, therefore equal numbers of ...
Through healthcare fraud cases and settlements in 2016, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Justice (DoJ) initiatives returned over $3.3 billion to the federal government and individuals, including $1.7 billion to Medicare Trust Funds, the Office of the Inspector ...
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