Law Students

HITECH / HIPAA Compliance Frameworks?

Posted on September 15, 2009
The authors of the HIPAA Survival Guide will be presenting at the World Health Care Congress Leadership Summit on HITECH and HIPAA Compliance Management for Providers.The title of our presentation is: "Meaningful Use Under HITECH: Why HIPAA is No Longer a Paper Tiger...

Health 2.0 is coming to a theatre near you?

Posted on September 13, 2009
It is a matter of economic survival in a world economy wherein a sick America won't otherwise be able to compete. It is the right thing to do as well. It is a legacy that we owe our children and grandchildren. It is as basic as the First Amendment, the right to vote, and equal protection under the law.

Living in Internet Time: This is not your daddy's healthcare industry!

Posted on September 11, 2009
What does the mean to the healthcare industry as it undergoes transformational reform and nothing short of an electronic revolution? Well, for one thing it should be a wake up call to healthcare executives that privacy and security breaches are likely to make national (and likely international) news.

HITECH/HIPAA and Medical Transcription Services

Posted on September 07, 2009
As an indicator of how pervasive the HITECH Act's Privacy Provisions (Subtitle D) are (i.e. regarding HIPAA compliance) there is an entire industry that it had not even occurred to us would be impacted in a significant way.

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HITECH / HIPAA: The Security Rule Dissected (Part 3)

Posted on September 06, 2009
There is good news and bad news with respect to HIPAA's Technical Safeguards ("TS"). The good news is that many of the TS requirements will be implemented using a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software and hardware. The bad news is that these requirements are highly technical.

Don't miss it! The World Health Care Congress Leadership Summit on HITECH & HIPAA Compliance

Posted on September 05, 2009
The World Health Care Congress Leadership Summit on HITECH & HIPAA Compliance Management: Our presentation >> Meaningful Use Under HITECH: Why HIPAA is No Longer a Paper Tiger

Online Regulatory Compliance: New Sheriff in Town?

Posted on September 03, 2009
It may have been (and it was) the wild, wild west on these "Internets" for the last 15 years but it looks like Wyatt Earp and the boys are "fixin" to try and clean it up.

HIPAA Regs Full Text Now "Clickable!"

Posted on August 30, 2009
The HIPAA Survival Guide (HSG) online now has the full text of the HIPAA Regulations available in a "clickable" format. What does that mean? You can think of it as a point and click navigation for the regulations in a Wikipedia like format.

HITECH / HIPAA: The Security Rule Dissected (Part 2)

Posted on August 24, 2009
The objective of this series on the HIPAA Security Rule ("SR") is not to provide an exhaustive review of the SR, but rather to get those unfamiliar with its requirements grounded. One important thing to keep in mind is that the SR is a great example of the convergence between policy, law and technology.

HITECH / HIPAA: The Security Rule Dissected (Part 1)

Posted on August 21, 2009
From a healthcare business perspective, a better understanding of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules is mission critical since compliance with the rules is now an integral part of HHS' meaningful use definition. In other words, non-compliance means that a provider or facility may not get paid their EHR incentives.

The Problem with Health Care Standards?

Posted on August 17, 2009
We need open source health care standards.

Health Care Reform: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way!

Posted on August 17, 2009
In short, health care reform matters. It may be the single most important domestic political agenda item of our generation. It is simply unconscionable to remain on the sidelines and not to engage.

Healthcare Providers Online: Legal Perils for the Uninitiated?

Posted on August 14, 2009
Providers going online must comply not only with the required HIPAA Privacy Notice, but also with Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) and other applicable laws.

HITECH/HIPAA Effective Dates & Commentary

Posted on August 12, 2009
You can find an excellent summary of the modifications to HIPAA mandated by the HITECH Act here. It is one of the more thorough summaries we have found to date, with Appendix A containing a calendar of HITECH/HIPAA due dates...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part VIII

Posted on August 11, 2009
Part VII of this series can be found here. Finally, we arrive at the end of this series of posts. However, if you are considering implementing an EHR and have already started thinking about HITECH/HIPAA compliance then this is the...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part VII

Posted on August 11, 2009
Part VI of this series can be found here. Most providers and facilities will find it extremely difficult to meet their EHR/compliance objectives without an effective partnering strategy. Why? For all the reasons that we have discussed during this series...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part VI

Posted on August 09, 2009
Part V of this series can be found here. This post focuses on Internet resources and stresses the importance of leveraging what is available. There are a significant number of high quality resources now available on the Internet. Some of...

Why a HIPAA Survival Guide?

Posted on August 07, 2009
The following is paraphrased version of the introduction to the HIPAA Survival Guide(HSG): This Survival Guide attempts a "forest from the trees" overview of the HIPAA Privacy and Security rules The genesis of these rules is covered in the Background...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part V

Posted on August 06, 2009
The governance issues related to HITECH/HIPAA compliance were discussed in Governance Under HITECH/HIPAA: Two Types of Risk? By far, the business risks associated with non-compliance will completely overshadow the compliance risks, despite the fact that the HITECH Act has completely...

EHRs: Coming to a Cloud Near You?

Posted on August 05, 2009
Salesforce.Com getting into the EMR Business? Invests in Practice Fusion. As discussed here, there are perhaps many compelling reasons for a provider or facility to select a "cloud based" (read software-as-a-service or SaaS) solution for their EHR implementation, not the...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Moving from "No Story" to a "Good Story?"

Posted on August 04, 2009
HITECH/HIPAA compliance is not a one time event but a process. The same holds true for implementing an EHR system. In order for a provider or facility to reach their objective they will need to work on the people, process...

HHS Staffing Up for Mandatory HIPAA Audits?

Posted on August 03, 2009
That would be a fair inference. As discussed here, Section 13411 of HITECH Subtitle D requires that HHS conduct mandatory audits (emphasis added). The Secretary shall provide for periodic audits to ensure that covered entities and business associates that are...

HHS Now Has a HIPAA Money Making Machine?

Posted on August 03, 2009
In the past CMS was responsible for enforcing HIPAA's Security Rule. As indicated here, the HITECH Act turns HIPAA into a potential money machine for HHS. 13410(c): In general, proceeds from certain civil fines shall be transferred to HHS/OCR to...

HITECH Act: Full Text Now Available and "Clickable!"

Posted on August 02, 2009
As part of the HIPAA Survival Guide site we have now made the entire HITECH Act available and fully "clickable." This means that if you want to read the Act in its entirety, you can do so without parsing through...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part IV

Posted on August 02, 2009
Part III of this series can be found here. As new posts in the series are added the forward and back links will be updated in order for readers to "walk the posts" in a quasi presentation like format. The...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part III

Posted on August 02, 2009
Part II of this series can be found here. As new posts in the series are added the forward and back links will be updated in order for readers to "walk the posts" in a quasi presentation like format. There...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part II

Posted on August 01, 2009
Part I of these series can be found here. As new posts in the series are added the forward and back links will be updated in order for readers to "walk the posts" in a quasi presentation like format. There...

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems: Part I

Posted on August 01, 2009
The overview post that started this series can be found here. As new posts in the series are added the forward and back links will be updated in order for readers to "walk the posts" in quasi presentation like format....

EHR & HITECH/HIPAA: Mother of Wicked Problems?

Posted on July 31, 2009
OK, it is not quite like solving world hunger, but for the reasons discussed here, the implementation of an EHR that meets the meaningful use requirements (including full compliance with HITECH/HIPAA) is a totally non-trivial problem. Old waterfall methodologies are...

Governance Under HITECH/HIPAA: Two Types of Risk?

Posted on July 30, 2009
In general, a provider or facility must consider at least two kinds of risk under their HITECH/HIPAA compliance governance strategy. One is clearly compliance risk (i.e. the risk of fines under HITECH's Enhanced Enforcement-Subtitle D). The other type of risk,...

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