Home Health & Hospice Week

Tip: You're not off the hook if the breach is your vendor's fault. Using electronic health records may cut costs and reduce errors, but they also can increase your compliance risks -- and scrutiny from the feds. Wake-up call: You are accountable for compliance even if a third party installs and maintains your records system. Providers will still be responsible for ensuring the same privacy protections as if they did have their own IT department, points out Jim Sheldon-Dean with Lewis Creek Systems in Charlotte, Vt. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) intensified HIPAA requirements, and Congress has allocated more HIPAA security compliance enforcement dollars to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the HHS Office of Inspector General, points out Wayne J. Miller, a health care attorney with the Compliance Law Group in Los Angeles. Use this breakdown of the new HIPAA regulations to update your policies and [...]