Although the results of the Ponemon Institute's Third Annual Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy & Data Security don't paint a pretty picture when it comes to protection of PHI, healthcare organizations can use the dismal statistics to improve compliance.
A former clinical director for Biscayne Milieu, a Miami-based mental health clinic, was sentenced to 100 months in prison for his participation in a Medicare fraud scheme involving the submission of more than $50 million in fraudulent billings to Medicare, announced the Assistant Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Florida, the FBI Miami Field Office, and the HHS-OIG Office of Investigations Miami Office in a press release.
Law enforcement officials in Texas, Florida, and New York recently announced plea agreements and fines involving the billing of an unapproved prescription drug and Medicare fraud.
You're reviewing a case file and discover that a patient's recent readmission is due to a medication prescribing error made by a physician. Do you report it?
One thing is certain: You don't want to wait until you receive a notification letter from OCR before you begin preparing for a HIPAA audit, says Dena Boggan, CPC, CMC, CCP, HIPAA privacy/security officer at St. Dominic Jackson (Miss.) Memorial Hospital.
