Are you At Risk?
The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel recently reported that as of June 30, 2005, 13,733 complaints alleging Privacy Rule violations have been filed with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. Although, two-thirds of these complaints have been resolved, 217 cases have been sent to the US Department of Justice for criminal investigation. According to the Office for Civil Rights, the top ranked entity against which HIPAA complaints have been filed are Private Healthcare Practices.

• Impermissible use or disclosure of an individual’s identifiable health information.
• Lack of adequate safeguards.
• Refusal or failure to provide the individual with access to his/her records.
• Disclosure of more information than is minimally necessary to satisfy a particular request.
• Failure to have the individual’s valid authorization for a disclosure that requires such authorization. (HIPAA Advisory.com Phoenix Healthcare Systems)

Protect your practice from HIPAA violation complaints by implementing basic administrative procedures to protect health information and the rights of individuals with respect to that information. Such procedures should be consistent with HIPAA mandates, including, but not limited to:

• Designation of a privacy official
• Development of a policy on Privacy Practice standards
• Providing on-going privacy training to staff members
• Implementation of safeguards to protect health information from intentional or accidental misuse
• Providing a means for individuals to lodge complaints about your information practices, and maintaining a record of any and all complaints
• Development of a system of sanctions for staff members and business partners who violate your privacy policy.
• Providing your patients with a notice of your privacy practices, how their medical information may be used and disclosed and how they can get access to that information.

For more information on HIPAA, log on to the Member Center and click on HIPAA Updates. This will take you directly to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid website where a variety of HIPAA related information can be accessed such as: Upcoming Events, FAQS, Regulations and Standards, overviews on the National Provider Identifier, the latest in HIPAA news, Education Materials, HIPAA related links and more.
You may also access the Member Center and click on Discussion Forums, to post questions or to discuss a variety of topics including HIPAA.