RC.01.01.01, Content of the Medical Record, did not top the list of the survey findings for hospitals in the first half of 2014, according to the September 2014 issue of Joint Commission Perspectives. Nor was it on the list for critical access hospitals at all! However, 49% of hospitals surveyed received a requirement for improvement for this standard, primarily in the EPs related to timing and dating entries. This indicates hospitals are still using a lot of paper records. That said, the downward swing is encouraging as more and more hospitals fully implement the EMR.
At this point, there are no federally recognized HIPAA certification standards for covered entities (CE) and business associates (BA). However, that doesn't mean there are no good assessment tools out there to gauge information security and regulatory compliance. The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) published its first common security framework (CSF) in March 2009 with the goal of focusing on information security as a core pillar of the broad adoption of health information systems and exchanges.
Case managers rejoice. CMS recently sounded what is being called the death knell of the 2-midnight rule certification in a final rule published in the November 10, 2014, Federal Register.
In September 2014, CMS and the Office for the National Coordinator (ONC) released a final rule that offers enhanced flexibility for eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals using certified EHR technology (CEHRT) and working toward meaningful use attestation (https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2014-21021.pdf). The final rule regulations became effective October 1, 2014.
