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Overview: Final regulations for the new HIPAA Breach Notification Rule require much more than notifying individuals affected by a Breach of their Protected Health Information (PHI). Covered Entities and Business Associates first must follow and document a very specific process to determine if a Breach occurred. If no Breach occurred documentary proof must be kept for six years. If a Breach did occur timely notifications and other actions must be undertaken and documented. This webinar will explain: What Covered Entities and Business Associates must do to comply with the Breach Notification Rule What is and is not a Breach Three exceptions - when an acquisition, access, use, or disclosure of PHI not permitted by the Privacy Rule is not a Breach How to perform a Breach Risk Assessment to determine if you can demonstrate a a low probability that the PHI was compromised Who must be notified in case of a Breach When notifications must be provided What information must be contained in each notification Other requirements in case of a Breach Investigate Mitigate harm to affected individuals Protect against further Breaches Document everything Planning and preparation for the worst - public relations and mitigation strategies to limit damage to the organization's reputation and financial well-being Why should you attend: Breaches and incidents that might be Breaches happen all the time! More than 173,000 separate breaches of Protected Health Information (PHI) affecting less than 500 individuals were reported to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) between September, 2009 and May 31, 2015 and in the same period HHS received approximately 1240 reports of PHI breaches that affected 500 or more individuals An acquisition, access, use, or disclosure of PHI not permitted by the Privacy Rule is presumed to be a Breach unless it falls within an exception or the Covered Entity or Business Associate can demonstrate a low probability that the PHI was compromi

HIPAA Breach Notification Rules and its new version : Let us begin at the beginning: What is breach notification? The term is pretty simple to understand. It means notifying the authorities whenever there is a breach of Protected Health Information (PHI). Covered Entities (CE's) and Business Associates (BA's), who are closely associated with PHI, and individuals whose PHI data are breached, are required to bring such data breaches to the notice of the authorities, whenever there is one. A breach notification is a mechanism that is aimed at ensuring that BA's and CE's meet requirements in the HITECH Act in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). To whom should the affected individuals and CE's and BA's complain? Whenever there is a breach of PHI by a CE or a BA, or if there is violation of the Privacy, Security, or Breach Notification Rules, the affected individual can complain to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which will initiate investigation into these complaints. Whenever a CE or a BA detects a breach, it can complain to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). In addition, the HIPAA breach notification rules have clear guidelines on how to report breaches in the following classifications: HIPAA's definition of a breach A breach of PHI is said to have taken place when any unpermitted use or disclosure that compromises the security of the data in the PHI takes place. Any such action, resulting in the breach of any kind of data contained in a PHI, big or small, is considered a breach, unless the CE or BA can explain that the data that got breached into was not serious enough, from its risk assessment point of view, to warrant immediate intervention. The new HIPAA breach notification rules The HHS embarked on a new HIPAA breach notification program, the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Audit Program, with which it seeks to bring a few changes into the existing HIPAA breach notification rules. This new Audit Pr

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was legislated in 1996 with the primary aim of ensuring that employees who are in the process of changing or leaving their jobs do not lose their health insurance benefits. Additionally, HIPAA sought to bring down health care fraud and abuse by mandating pan-industry standards for the protection of health care information and automated billing and other related processes, and for ensuring the security of Protected Health Information (PHI). What is a HIPAA Security Audit? A HIPAA Security Audit is a program under the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Audit Program of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). A HIPAA Security Audit is carried out to make sure that the policies, processes and controls on the part of Covered Entities comply with the provisions of the HITECH Act of 2009. Adherence to the requirements laid out by HITECH is mandatory. Given the high degree of continued use of new technologies that go into and will continue to go into electronic records of patients and the criticality of the data contained in them; the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recognizes that there could be chances of data breach of Protected Health Information. It is to prevent the occurrence of these breaches that a HIPAA Security Audit is mandated by the HITECH Act. Reporting of data breaches is mandatory The foremost highlight of the HITECH Act is the requirement that Entities covered by HIPAA report data breaches that affect 500 or more employees to the HHS. The OCR lays out an Audit Protocol, with whose policies, protocols and processes a facility has to comply if it is said to be compliant with the HIPAA Security Audit. Why is it necessary to carry out a HIPAA/HITECH Security Audit? Compliance with HIPAA Security Audit is necessary to demonstrate that a practice or business is well protected. The most important reason for which such entities need to be HIPAA/HITECH Security

Overview: New changes modifying the HIPAA Privacy and Security Regulations are going into place to meet the privacy and security mandates within the HITECH Act in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The changes include establishing new rights for individuals as well as changes to the limitations on uses and disclosures. New requirements for patient access to records and requirements to notify individuals in the event of a breach are only two of the many areas affected in the new law, including new requirements for restriction and accounting of disclosures and increased enforcement activity. Covered entities that use electronic health records (EHRs) will need to meet new access and disclosure rules and all kinds of business associates and their subcontractors will need to establish compliance programs. And if you are required to have a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, you will need to update that to show all the new rights that patients will have, such as electronic copies, new rights to restrict disclosures, and much more. Business associates are now directly covered by the HIPAA privacy and security regulations and are liable for fines and penalties if they do not comply. If a business associate supplies services that interact with the new changes to the rules, the BA will need to be aware of the new requirements. We will explain what a Business Associate needs to do differently under the new regulations. Electronic records have new demands placed on them, in both providing access and in accounting for all disclosures of health information - the electronic age in health care brings new obligations to serve individuals as well as manage health information for healthcare professionals. We will discuss how disclosures must be tracked in an EHR and review the various ways patient records can be supplied electronically. The new regulations will be reviewed and their effects on usual practices will be discussed, as will what policies need to be chang

Dealing with Medicare and Medicaid Overpayments : Medicare and Medicaid overpayments are pretty common. If they are not dealt with properly, they invite penalties. Medicare and Medicaid Overpayments happen when a person, provider or supplier receives a payment that is in excess of the amount due to him or her under Medicare statutes and regulations. This overpayment becomes a federal debt that is owed by the individual to the State. So, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is required by federal law to recover this amount. Overpayments routinely occur in Medicare and Medicaid. Many a time, these are unintended and are usually a result of oversight, but could also happen due to intent. Some of the most common reasons for which Medicare and Medicaid overpayments occur can be when: Duplicate submissions of the same service or claim are made Excessive or non-covered services are billed or furnished for billing Services that are not necessary medically or are excluded are paid for The wrong payee gets paid. How are Medicare and Medicaid overpayments processed? Obamacare has amended the federal False Claims Act (FCA), which is part of the Fraud Enforcement Recovery Act of 2009 (FERA), to add provisions relating to recovery of Medicare and Medicaid overpayments. This is how the process of Medicare and Medicaid overpayments works: Whenever Medicare comes to know that any overpayment of $10 (raised to $25 from July 2014) or more is made, it directs the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) to initiate the process of recovery of this overpayment. The MAC starts the process by initially mailing a demand letter in which repayment is requested If no action is taken, a second and third demand letters are mailed in a month following the first one. Contents of a demand mail from Medicare/Medicaid: The demand letter sent by the MAC will explain the details of the Medicare and/or overpayment. When repayment is not made in full within 30 days, interest starts get

Medical Informatics is a story of phenomenal growth: Medical informatics is an area that is growing at a fervid pace. Its growth is not likely to get hindered or slow down in the near future, due to the surge in its use in the healthcare and IT industries. Medical Informatics is a relatively recent development in the field of healthcare. It is interwoven into the development and application of IT-based innovations in the healthcare industry. Medical informatics is often synonymously and loosely used with other related words such as clinical informatics, nursing informatics, healthcare informatics and so on. Its associations with related or similar disciplines notwithstanding, one can draw a fairly clear idea of medical informatics. It can be described as the application, adoption, design and development of IT into activities relating to the healthcare industry. What is the objective of medical informatics? Medical informatics seeks to enhance knowledge and innovate in the healthcare field by using IT and its applications. Towards this end, it uses and merges the principles, knowledge, data, application, and the tools needed for applying these in the process of decision-making. Who are involved in the use of medical informatics? Medical informatics is used by almost everyone in the healthcare industry. These include physicians, nurses, billers, coders, many others who provide healthcare, and medical librarians. In addition, there are specialists who are tasked purely with working with medical informatics, such as Data analysts Hospital record managers, and Programmers and analysts in the industry. The rise and rise of medical informatics The birth and growth of medical informatics has been tied to those of the IT industry, the Internet in particular. In a sense, they are twins, having started and grown in almost a conjoined fashion. Its early development started in the 1960s, very nearly contemporaneous with that of the Net. While the medium that brought

Overview: In this webinar, Hope will present the lessons she's learned over her career as a grant writer and editor in medical research. By identifying simple solutions to common problems, participants will learn tools to improve their ability create competitive grant applications and increase their academic and research productivity. To write compelling grant applications, this webinar will cover: How your choice of words will help you stay within page limits without compromising the science How to minimize abbreviations to improve readability and respect reviewer time constraints How to use Microsoft Word efficiently to improve page layout and readability How to manage references by enlisting online databases and reference management software How and when to stop developing the content to meet both grantor and institutional deadlines Why should you Attend: Many Grant Writing workshops do not teach writing per se. Though useful for beginning grant writers, most focus on understanding the application process and the various sections of a grant. For participants wanting to learn to actually write a grant, they are often left to figure out the technique for themselves. In addition, funding opportunity applications (FOAs) have changed quite rapidly in the past few years and require more focused writing in fewer pages. Competition has increased as budgets have shrunk, and knowing how to make the most out of both the time and the length of a grant project can prove challenging and extremely stressful. This webinar is for both new and experienced grant writers, either scientists and principal investigators or writers and other support staff. By using common resources (MS Word, EndNote, PubMed), the webinar content is designed to help grant-writing teams increase their efficiency in the writing process and also meet the requirements of the FOAs. Plus, plain language and good writing practices taught in this webinar will ensure straight-forward, content-rich, and well

Medical Informatics : Medical informatics is an area that is growing at a fervid pace. Its growth is not likely to get hindered or slow down in the near future, due to the surge in its use in the healthcare and IT industries. Medical Informatics is a relatively recent development in the field of healthcare. It is interwoven into the development and application of IT-based innovations in the healthcare industry. Medical informatics is often synonymously and loosely used with other related words such as clinical informatics, nursing informatics, healthcare informatics and so on. Its associations with related or similar disciplines notwithstanding, one can draw a fairly clear idea of medical informatics. It can be described as the application, adoption, design and development of IT into activities relating to the healthcare industry. What is the objective of medical informatics? Medical informatics seeks to enhance knowledge and innovate in the healthcare field by using IT and its applications. Towards this end, it uses and merges the principles, knowledge, data, application, and the tools needed for applying these in the process of decision-making. Who are involved in the use of medical informatics? Medical informatics is used by almost everyone in the healthcare industry. These include physicians, nurses, billers, coders, many others who provide healthcare, and medical librarians. In addition, there are specialists who are tasked purely with working with medical informatics, such as Data analysts Hospital record managers, and Programmers and analysts in the industry. The rise and rise of medical informatics: The birth and growth of medical informatics has been tied to those of the IT industry, the Internet in particular. In a sense, they are twins, having started and grown in almost a conjoined fashion. Its early development started in the 1960s, very nearly contemporaneous with that of the Net. While the medium that brought it into existenc

Its a pleasure for me to write this testimony about how i got my Genital Herpes cured a month ago. i have been reading so many comments of some people who were cured from various diseases by Dr. Edes, but i never believed them. I was hurt and depressed, I was too curious and wanted to try Dr.Edes, then i contacted him through his email (dredeshome@gmail.com) when i contact him, he assured me 100% that he will heal me, i pleaded with him to help me out. My treatment was a great success, he healed me just as he promised. He sent me his medication and ask me to go for check up after 14 days of taking the medication. i agreed with him and i took his medication and went for check up, to my greatest surprise my result was negative after the treatment, i am really happy that i am cured and healthy again. I have waited for 3weeks to be very sure i was completely healed before writing this testimony. I did another blood test one week ago and it was still Herpes negative. so i guess its time i recommend anyone going through Herpes HSV-1 or HSV-2, HIV, HPV, Hepatitis B, Diabetes, Cancer should reach him through his Email dredeshome@gmail.com OR add him on whatsapp +2348151937428. visit his website on; www.edesherbalhome.webs.com

Overview: The webinar will concentrate on topics that HHS has announced will be the focus of the first round of "desk audits". They reflect significant areas of non-compliance revealed in the 2012 pilot audits and HHS HIPAA violation investigations concluded by Resolution Agreements and Corrective Action Plans. They include: HIPAA Risk Analysis Risk Management based on Risk Analysis Breach Notification Notice of Privacy Practices (for Covered Entities) Minimum Necessary Standard Access of Individuals to their PHI Authorizations Workforce Training This webinar is vital because, in focusing on preparation for a HIPAA Compliance Audit, Covered Entities and Business Associates may review, prioritize and structure their HIPAA Compliance programs. If you have HIPAA Compliance documentation ready to submit on two weeks notice to HHS you are implementing an effective HIPAA Compliance program. In addition, every Covered Entity or Business Associate may face an HHS HIPAA Compliance investigation at any time due to a complaint or a Breach. If you are "audit ready" you will be ready for an investigation - and better able to avoid complaints and prevent breaches. Why should you attend: Every Covered Entity and Business Associate is liable - without prior notice - to be audited for HIPAA Compliance by HHS You will have only 2 weeks after receiving your HIPAA Compliance Audit notification and data request to upload all requested documents to an HHS HIPAA Compliance Audit Portal The HIPAA Compliance Audit data request you receive will specify content and file organization, file names and any other document submission requirements Auditors will not contact an audited entity for clarifications or ask for additional information - it is essential that submitted documents are current, accurately reflect the entity's HIPAA Compliance program and demonstrate HIPAA Compliance Only data submitted on time will be assessed Failure to respond on time may be referred to the HHS regional

Patients increasingly are going online to post their opinions about doctors, hospitals and health care services

Its a pleasure for me to write this testimony about how i got my Genital Herpes cured a month ago. i have been reading so many comments of some people who were cured from various diseases by Dr. Edes, but i never believed them. I was hurt and depressed, I was too curious and wanted to try Dr.Edes, then i contacted him through his email (dredeshome@gmail.com) when i contact him, he assured me 100% that he will heal me, i pleaded with him to help me out. My treatment was a great success, he healed me just as he promised. He sent me his medication and ask me to go for check up after 14 days of taking the medication. i agreed with him and i took his medication and went for check up, to my greatest surprise my result was negative after the treatment, i am really happy that i am cured and healthy again. I have waited for 3weeks to be very sure i was completely healed before writing this testimony. I did another blood test one week ago and it was still Herpes negative. so i guess its time i recommend anyone going through Herpes HSV-1 or HSV-2, HIV, HPV, Hepatitis B, Diabetes, Cancer should reach him through his Email dredeshome@gmail.com OR add him on whatsapp +2348151937428. visit his website on; www.edesherbalhome.webs.com