The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released much-needed cloud computing guidance for covered entities (CE), business associates (BA), and vendors on October 7.
A business associate (BA) who cuts off a covered entity’s (CE) access to its own protected health information (PHI) may violate HIPAA, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) said.The potential for a HIPAA violation hinges on the impermissible use of PHI.
A Rhode Island health system agreed to a settlement and corrective action plan after a breach investigation uncovered out-of-date business associate agreements with a member hospital.
The May 2016 issue of Perspectives outlined 225 hospital requirements from the accreditation manual?nine from the Information Management (IM) chapter and five from the Record of Care, Treatment and Services (RC) chapter?that have been deleted. This initiative is part of the Joint Commission's project REFRESH and improving the survey process.
The May 2016 issue of Perspectives outlined 225 hospital requirements from the accreditation manual?nine from the Information Management (IM) chapter and five from the Record of Care, Treatment and Services (RC) chapter?that have been deleted. This initiative is part of the Joint Commission's project REFRESH and improving the survey process.
For approximately 10 years, HIMB has been gathering data about the HIM profession through its annual salary survey. This survey often gives us a glimpse into the responsibilities of HIM professionals, but focuses primarily on the education, experience, and salary of those in the HIM field.
Time and again, the salary survey reveals that HIM directors and managers are wearing many hats and asked to oversee an increasing number of tasks. In an effort to dig a bit deeper into HIM departments, HIMB conducted its first HIM roles and responsibilities survey.
More than half of respondents were HIM directors (26%) or managers (25%), whereas the remaining 49% held other revenue cycle positions. Of the latter group, 50% were coders and 29% were CDI specialists. Responses also came in from transcriptionists, privacy officers, compliance officers, revenue integrity professionals, and consultants.
HIM demographics
The plurality of respondents work in acute care hospitals (55%) and critical access hospitals (17%) or have a corporate position at a multi-system hospital (8%). Other settings represented in the survey include long-term acute care hospitals, psychiatric/behavioral health hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, and physician practices.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the latest agency to slam HHS’ oversight of HIPAA in a report released September 26. The report was scathing in its criticism of HHS’ efforts to educate covered entities and business associate, develop and uphold technical security guidelines, and enforce compliance.
