Email is a routine and essential part of communication in healthcare—even when communicating PHI. But setting and enforcing HIPAA-compliant email policies continues to be tricky for many organizations.
A new effort is underway to allow observation stays to count toward the three-day stay required by CMS to qualify for reimbursement for a postacute skilled nursing facility stay.
This week's note reviews pre-service coverage analysis processes in light of the recent CMS decision to delegate the target, probe, and educate medical review strategy to the Medicare Administrative Contractors.
Q: I work for a home health agency. They’ve recently instructed us not to wear scrubs, lab coats, or anything that could obviously identify us as healthcare professionals. They’ve asked us to wear more business/professional casual attire because some patients complained that their neighbors saw nurses coming into the house and were concerned it was a HIPAA violation. Is this really a HIPAA concern, or could this be considered an incidental disclosure?
