Case managers are busy people. And in an era of budget cuts, they may find themselves strapped for time and resources. Due to these circumstances, some case managers might find themselves looking for methods to better manage their workload, including finding ways to focus their time on the neediest patients.
Patients may have easier access to laboratory results under an HHS proposed rule, "CLIA Program and HIPAA Privacy Rule: Patients' Access to Test Reports," released in September.
When patients are set to be discharged from the hospital, they have the right to appeal that discharge decision. Hospitals have a duty to inform patients that they have this right by providing them with a required notification mandated by CMS called the Important Message from Medicare (IM).
Q A patient signed an authorization form eight months ago, and her attorney is now submitting it to obtain a copy of her medical records. Is this authorization still valid, or do we need to get the patient to sign a new authorization?
Breaches are expensive and can be directly related to sending PHI unencrypted over the Internet. There are a number of vendors who offer secure messaging tools but not all are equal. Protected Trust is more than just a secure messaging solution. Protected Trust's application also includes tools to assist with broader security control implementation and compliance with HIPAA and HITECH.
