The healthcare industry is changing rapidly, and if you've been paying attention to the news you've probably noticed the recent wave of hospital mergers.
Every healthcare organization should develop and implement a policy and a well-defined process that provides guidance for managing incident and breach response.
In the August and September issues, CMM told you about a recent set of revisions to the discharge planning section of the CMS State Operations Manual. While most of the changes amounted to housekeeping, CMS did take the unusual step of including some non-binding best practice recommendations related to discharge practices. Surveyors won't penalize your organization if you don't follow these recommendations, but experts recommend following the agency's advice whenever possible.
Imagine a hospital as a sentient being that holds within it all things necessary to heal you from illness or injury. The HIM department, or medical records department, is this being's memory. Without it, there would be no continuum of patient care. Sometimes, it's the hospital's memory that serves to produce an otherwise overlooked diagnosis.
It's a brave new world out there for business associates (BA). BAs needed to comply with the HIPAA Security Rule and the use and disclosure provisions of the Privacy Rule in February 2010 as a result of the HITECH Act. However, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) held off on any enforcement activities-that is, until recently.
