Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) news from FierceHealthIT
News
Bill would tighten HIPAA privacy protections
Brace yourselves--HIPAA rules may be getting tougher. Two U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would change language in HIPAA to give patients more control over their protected health... Read more...
Park Nicollet suspends employees for EMR snooping
Hoping to communicate that it's not going to tolerate questionable data use, Park Nicollet Clinic has disclosed that it suspended more than 100 employees over the past year for violating HIPAA rules.... Read more...
House committee advances EHR bill
Last week, the House's Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization passed bill HR 4859 (HR 4859) that would allow the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to mandate that health insurers establish two forms of electronic health records (EHRs) for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.
Under the bill, the …
... Read more...HIPAA case highlights patient legal vulnerability
The recent indictment of a former Florida employee for conspiracy to commit health care fraud with the personal information of more than 1,100 Florida patients probably won't result in big civil fines against the hospital by the federal government--which has yet to sanction a hospital or other health care entity for patient privacy breaches--says a news article in the Florida Naples News.
The case is potentially precedent-setting as it is the first in South Florida to be …
... Read more...Editor's Corner
The jury is still out on just how serious a problem online ID theft is, but the picture is getting a bit more clear--and scary--when it comes to your company's liability if it does allow sensitive patient info to be stolen. An interesting piece by attorney and former federal prosecutor Howard Goldstein in the equally scary sounding Business …
... Read more...Editor's Corner
Like it or not, if you've got a role in healthcare IT, you also probably have a hand in your organization's Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance responsibilities. Been ducking those responsibilities? You're not alone.
The deadline for complying with HIPAA security regulations was April 1, and 74 percent of payer-respondents in a recent survey …
... Read more...