The intent of quality and safety programs is to evaluate and monitor performance and to improve results. Organizations develop annual quality and safety plans with measurable objectives that departments adopt and include as integral aspects of their performance improvement plans.
Q: I am familiar with the HIPAA Security Rule requiring information system review audits. Are there any HIPAA Privacy Rule requirements?other than to perform audits?that require the examination of inappropriate access for an alleged breach? Currently, our security team performs monthly information system review audits and issues reports to leadership on a quarterly basis. Will this suffice, or are there audits that the privacy team should perform as well?
With quarterly code updates and other regulatory changes from CMS throughout the year, the chargemaster coordinator has to constantly monitor the healthcare landscape, but the final few months of the year remain the most challenging.
The endocrine system, which consists of many glands located throughout the body, is responsible for producing hormones and releasing chemicals into the bloodstream. These glands help maintain many important bodily functions, including metabolism, growth, and reproductive functions.
The HIPAA Security Rule requires implementing risk management tools and techniques to adequately and effectively safeguard ePHI. Risk analysis and management provides the foundation for an organization's Security Rule compliance efforts, and reinforces its strategy to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of vital information.
In the wake of several large breaches, OCR is ready to ramp up its oversight of HIPAA compliance as it embarks upon Phase 2 of its HIPAA privacy, security, and breach notification audits. OCR began preparing for this round of audits around the same time that news broke of the second-largest HIPAA breach in the U.S., a hacking incident that affected 4.5 million patients treated at or referred to Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, Inc.
