The rate of electronic health record adoption among priority primary care providers is rising rapidly in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Southern New Jersey, according to directors of the regional extension centers in those states. The directors presented an update to attendees of the Delaware Valley Healthcare Information Management System Society's ...

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 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 ...

What a week it's been for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Aside from celebrating the first anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), officials introduced several new comrades to the public. On Feb. 17, Joy Pritts was named chief privacy officer in the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health ...

It's Friday--time to catch up on the news. I was hoping to share a delightful health-related story with you, but there were too many good ones, and who am I to single out? So, on to a list we go; I'll leave it up to you to pick and prune according to your preferences. CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explores record access issues ...