Q: My facility no longer registers patients under aliases, but will allow them to opt out of the patient directory. However, opting out of the registry will not exclude our patients from the operating room (OR) list. At one time, the facility's CEO received the daily OR list with full patient names so he could visit board members, donors, or others whom he knows at our facility. HIM changed this practice so that patients' names would not be on the OR schedule provided to the CEO. The CEO took this matter to the hospital attorney, who said the names could be included because the use of PHI by the CEO to determine whether and when a patient visit is appropriate is permitted by HIPAA as it is part of healthcare operations. Is it a violation of HIPAA for the CEO to use PHI to track patients in this manner?
As the new year kicks off, many opt to make resolutions for the months ahead. BOH asked some privacy and security professionals to share their best tips for a productive 2015. What advice would they offer others in the industry to ensure the year ahead is a success?
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.
Do observation patients belong in their own unit? The answer is debated at many organizations. Some say establishing a separate unit brings numerous advantages, from improved ED throughput to shorter lengths of stay. Others say some facilities may not need one.
In a concerted effort to move healthcare payments to a system of "quality over quantity," CMS finalized policies that greatly expanded packaging for outpatient providers in the 2015 OPPS final rule. It also introduced complexity adjustments with comprehensive APCs (C-APCs).
