HIPAA

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Read Jackson Lewis’ white paper addressing legal risks stemming from occupational health nurses and on-site health clinics…
Continue Reading Jackson Lewis White Paper Addresses Legal Risks Stemming From Occupational Health Nurses and On-site Health Clinics

Massachusetts service provider contract deadline – March 1, 2012 – should be a reminder to revisit all contracts with third party vendors to ensure they require the vendor to safeguard personal information.
Continue Reading Third Party Vendors Equal Data Breach Risk, Massachusetts Vendor Contract Deadline Approaches – March 1, 2012

The ECRI Institute recently published an excellent summary of key issues for hospitals concerning social media (registration required), a valuable read for any hospital administrator, risk manager or human resources director. ECRI reports that approximately 4,000 U.S. hospitals own social media sites and that number is sure to grow significantly. One of the reasons for this growth will likely be due in significant…

HIPAA covered entities and business associates need to consider how to practically and efficiently track and illustrate compliance should they find an OCR investigator knocking at the door.
Continue Reading Automating HIPAA Compliance Tracking and Audit Preparation

Today, the Office for Civil Rights formally announced its HIPAA audit plan, with audits commencing in November 2011. A new page on OCR’s website answers some helpful questions for covered entities and business associates, which are summarized in this report.
Continue Reading OCR Announces HIPAA Audit Program

If you have an interest in the role the growing use of mobile communications devices (smartphones, iPads, iPhones, etc.) will play in how personal health information is exchanged in the health care industry, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is seeking your input. According to a notice published Nov. 1, 2011 (76 Fed. Reg. 67455), comments are due Dec. 31.
Continue Reading Provide Feedback to Government on Exchanging Health Information on Mobile Communications Devices

Approximately 150 HIPAA on-site audits are scheduled to begin in early 2012. Covered entities and business associates should be aware of the nature and scope of these audits and what they should be doing to be prepare should they be selected.
Continue Reading HIPAA Audits to Begin Early 2012

The Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has published its first round of annual reports to Congress under the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of 2009 to Congress. The first report concerns HHS’s HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)…