A recent survey of 600 data center experts across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific has found that inefficient data removal and data sanitation processes are costing some organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
Q: My doctor emailed me while he was on vacation, and the email had the automatic “sent from my iPhone” message at the end. Is it a HIPAA violation for doctors to use their personal cell phone to communicate with patients?
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) will be taking a closer look at payments for inpatient claims subject to CMS’ post-acute transfer policy, according to a recent update to the OIG work plan.
Q: Case management requires a lot of communication with patients. What happens when communication can’t happen because of a patient’s temporary or permanent condition?
Socioeconomic and racial disparities were found in health behaviors and receipt of cancer screening for patients in Indiana, according to a recent population health study from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the Regenstrief Institute.
Twelve state attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit last month against Medical Informatics Engineering Inc., in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for failing to secure its computer systems, which resulted in a HIPAA data breach that compromised the data of more than 3.9 million people.
Q: A physician documented that a pregnant patient is obese, and the patient’s chart has a listed body mass index (BMI) score. Can we assign an ICD-10-CM BMI code in this instance or should this never be done for an obstetrics patient?
Q: In a previous question, you said you can destroy paper records like charts as soon as they are scanned into the EMR if your state considers electronic storage media legally acceptable for medical records. My organization is currently rewriting our policy on shredding charts; is there any reference to this in HIPAA that we can use to back this up?
