The roles and responsibilities of the HIM department have been transformed over the past decade. Although many of the core functions—coding, transcription, ROI—remain at the heart of the department, the way these tasks are performed has changed over time. As newer fields such as CDI or revenue integrity grow, they can open up questions about what role the HIM department plays in the organization and move critical HIM functions out of the department’s direct oversight.
Most covered entities still use mailings to communicate with patients and members, so it is worth revisiting Aetna's 2017 mailing breach and the surrounding litigation to understand where negligence occurred and to take away some valuable lessons learned.
UMass Memorial Medical Group Inc. and UMass Memorial Medical Center Inc. reached a $230,000 settlement with the state of Massachusetts in response to two data breaches that exposed the personal health information of more than 15,000 Massachusetts residents.
Q: How long are we required to retain the records of out-of-state patients? Do we follow HIPAA’s record retention requirements, our state record retention requirements, or the record retention requirements of the state in which the patient lives?
In this month's Product Watch, we look at a game-changing texting app. With the available technology, covered entities and business associates would be hard-pressed to justify sending PHI using unsecure texts.
