(Editor's Note: This guest blog was written from AHIMA's Health Information Integrity Summit by Sandra Kersten, MPH, RHIA, AHIMA, director of HIM Solutions.) Kathy Kenyon, JD, senior policy analyst for the Office of the National Controller for Health Information Technology, framed several key issues relating to EHRs and Health Information ...

It’s hard to look your best when you are wearing too many hats.  While the business of health care struggles in a depressed economy and a revenue cycle containing a growing number of under and uninsured, pending government regulations such as HITECH, the Affordable Care Act, HIPAA 5010 and ICD-10 conversions have produced, for many,  a ...

The Association of Health Information Outsourcing Services (AHIOS), an organization committed to promoting excellence in the handling and dissemination of confidential patient-identifiable information, gathered for its annual Fall meeting in Orlando, FL, on Sept. 30, following the annual American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) ...

In a letter last week directed to Georgina Verdugo, JD, LLM, MPA, director of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR), the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) responded to the July 14 proposed privacy rule changes pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). AHIMA President ...

Rite Aid Corp. and its 40 affiliated entities have agreed to pay $1 million to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced. In a coordinated action, the company also signed a consent order with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle potential violations of ...

The Association of Health Information Outsourcing Services (AHIOS) gathered for its annual Spring meeting in New Orleans back in March. Joining the AHIOS members at the meeting were healthcare industry expert, Dr. Deborah Peel of Patient Privacy Rights and an expert from a Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) vendor. Both presenters emphasized the ...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will host its sixth national education call regarding Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) implementation of HIPAA Version 5010 and D.0 transaction standards on May 26 from 2 - 3:30 p.m. EST.  This session will focus on the 837 Professional claim transaction. Subject matter experts will review ...

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) submitted comments this week to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in response to the request for information, ''HIPAA Privacy Rule Accounting of Disclosures Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act; Request for ...

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for issuing periodic guidance on the provisions in the HIPAA Security Rule. It will offer a series of guidance documents to assist organizations in identifying and implementing the most effective and appropriate administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect the confidentiality, ...

While interviewing for my articles on HITECH requirements for medical transcription service providers and independent contractors (ICs), I couldn't help thinking, ''I am so glad I just write about this stuff.'' I never would want to handle the stress of HIPAA compliance and, quite frankly, I wouldn't even know where to start. Encryption? I guess ...