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Overview: Today's educated professionals function in a maze of different educational and training requirements, which vary from state to state and from profession to profession. Nowhere than in health care is this more evident where multidisciplinary health care practitioners work together towards a common goal for the patient. What is a profession? What areas of work require the unique professional education, training, and experience that becomes mandated by the state? What work requires professional judgment and skill so as to be regulated by the government through mandatory laws applicable to an individual person practicing his or her chosen profession? State laws are enacted for the protection of the public by legislatures in all the fifty states. A list of individual professions and their applicable statues and administrative regulations takes up entire volumes of lawbooks. These state laws impose significant regulation on these professionals, and often in very different ways found in many aspects of state regulation, from the educational process, the examination requirements, the state licensure applications, and the legal standards and rules of each unique profession. Explore how state licensure boards are created and function at the state level. While most such state agencies have common, core functions and operations, there are many differences - and some requirements that are truly the opposite from profession to profession. Review the common requirements the state imposes on the health care provider. Know the basics of professional education and licensure. Understand the difference between legally binding laws and mere codes of ethics, which are aspirational and do not form the basis for legal action. Find out how to understand and navigate the challenges presented from differing and conflicting state laws governing the many health care professions. Know where key requirements exist that are common to many professions. This program

Overview: Today's educated professionals function in a maze of different educational and training requirements, which vary from state to state and from profession to profession. Nowhere than in health care is this more evident where multidisciplinary health care practitioners work together towards a common goal for the patient. What is a profession? What areas of work require the unique professional education, training, and experience that becomes mandated by the state? What work requires professional judgment and skill so as to be regulated by the government through mandatory laws applicable to an individual person practicing his or her chosen profession? State laws are enacted for the protection of the public by legislatures in all the fifty states. A list of individual professions and their applicable statues and administrative regulations takes up entire volumes of lawbooks. These state laws impose significant regulation on these professionals, and often in very different ways found in many aspects of state regulation, from the educational process, the examination requirements, the state licensure applications, and the legal standards and rules of each unique profession. Explore how state licensure boards are created and function at the state level. While most such state agencies have common, core functions and operations, there are many differences - and some requirements that are truly the opposite from profession to profession. Review the common requirements the state imposes on the health care provider. Know the basics of professional education and licensure. Understand the difference between legally binding laws and mere codes of ethics, which are aspirational and do not form the basis for legal action. Find out how to understand and navigate the challenges presented from differing and conflicting state laws governing the many health care professions. Know where key requirements exist that are common to many professions. This program

In this issue of "The 10 Most Innovative Companies Bringing AI to Healthcare", we have highlighted some of the renowned organizations from all over the globe, which have attained the feat of integrating AI into their solutions successfully and are now ready to play the next big inning.

Course "Tougher Import Rules for FDA Imports in 2016" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: FDA's and the Customs and Border Patrol Service (CBP) have become increasingly sophisticated and equally demanding in the submission of information and adherence to government procedures. Firm's that fail to understand and properly execute an import and export program find that their shipment is delayed, detained or refused. In 2016 entries must use the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) entry filing system or face entry refusals and monetary penalties up to $10,000 per offense. A number of other factors can derail the expectation of a seamless import process. The course covers detailed information about the roles and responsibilities of the various parties with an import operation and how to correct the weakest link(s) in the commercial chain. The course will include tips on how to understand FDA's thinking and offer anecdotal examples of FDA's import program curiosities. Why should you attend: What happens when your product is detained? FDA will begin a legal process that can become an expensive business debacle. You must respond fully within short timeframes. This is not the time for you to be on a learning curve. You need to have a plan in place and know what you are doing. The FDA is steadily increasing the legal and prior notice information requirements. If you do not know what those requirements are and you initiate a shipment, your product is figuratively dead in the water. You must be accurate with the import coding information and understand the automated and human review process. If not, you can expect detained shipments. CBP is implemented a new "Automated Commercial Environment" computer program that changes import logistics and information reporting for FDA regulated products. Your shipment may be stopped before it is even loaded at the foreign port. What

Overview: Today's educated professionals function in a maze of different educational and training requirements, which vary from state to state and from profession to profession. Nowhere than in health care is this more evident where multidisciplinary health care practitioners work together towards a common goal for the patient. What is a profession? What areas of work require the unique professional education, training, and experience that becomes mandated by the state? What work requires professional judgment and skill so as to be regulated by the government through mandatory laws applicable to an individual person practicing his or her chosen profession? State laws are enacted for the protection of the public by legislatures in all the fifty states. A list of individual professions and their applicable statues and administrative regulations takes up entire volumes of lawbooks. These state laws impose significant regulation on these professionals, and often in very different ways found in many aspects of state regulation, from the educational process, the examination requirements, the state licensure applications, and the legal standards and rules of each unique profession. Explore how state licensure boards are created and function at the state level. While most such state agencies have common, core functions and operations, there are many differences - and some requirements that are truly the opposite from profession to profession. Review the common requirements the state imposes on the health care provider. Know the basics of professional education and licensure. Understand the difference between legally binding laws and mere codes of ethics, which are aspirational and do not form the basis for legal action. Find out how to understand and navigate the challenges presented from differing and conflicting state laws governing the many health care professions. Know where key requirements exist that are common to many professions. This program offers an obje

Overview: Today's health care delivery occurs in a diverse, fast-changing, multidisciplinary health care environment. This often presents challenges to the health care professional that are not easy to navigate. Medical records and their confidentiality have long been the exclusive province of state law, but has now been recognized for some time in the federal HIPAA statutes and federal regulations. Differing and even conflicting sources of requirements at the state level still exist for the retention and disposition of medical records. These sources may vary based upon the specific health care practitioner - whether physicians, dentists, psychologists, or other health care providers, including mental health practitioners. As to the specific, individual health care practitioner, state laws mandate their confidentiality, retention, and even their specific content with regards to patient, clinical records. In addition to these clinical requirements, additional state laws set forth the content and retention of other types of records kept by the professional, such as supervisory agreements with other professionals subordinate to them as well as their own unique record content requirements. With the majority of medical records moving to an electronic format, special rules now exist with regard to the confidentiality, security, retention, and disposition of electronic medical records. This is particularly important as state laws continue to allow for and regulate the provision of telemedicine by various health care practitioners. For example, while psychotherapy and mental health services are ideal treatments to offer over the internet, that is, by simultaneous audio-visual transmission between the doctor and the patient, the risks of breaches of confidentiality also vastly increase. And when the successful doctor-patient relationship is over, how does the health care practitioner providing a mental health service dispose of these electronic records? In addition to

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

Overview: Today's health care delivery occurs in a diverse, fast-changing, multidisciplinary health care environment. This often presents challenges to the health care professional that are not easy to navigate. Medical records and their confidentiality have long been the exclusive province of state law, but has now been recognized for some time in the federal HIPAA statutes and federal regulations. Differing and even conflicting sources of requirements at the state level still exist for the retention and disposition of medical records. These sources may vary based upon the specific health care practitioner - whether physicians, dentists, psychologists, or other health care providers, including mental health practitioners. As to the specific, individual health care practitioner, state laws mandate their confidentiality, retention, and even their specific content with regards to patient, clinical records. In addition to these clinical requirements, additional state laws set forth the content and retention of other types of records kept by the professional, such as supervisory agreements with other professionals subordinate to them as well as their own unique record content requirements. With the majority of medical records moving to an electronic format, special rules now exist with regard to the confidentiality, security, retention, and disposition of electronic medical records. This is particularly important as state laws continue to allow for and regulate the provision of telemedicine by various health care practitioners. For example, while psychotherapy and mental health services are ideal treatments to offer over the internet, that is, by simultaneous audio-visual transmission between the doctor and the patient, the risks of breaches of confidentiality also vastly increase. And when the successful doctor-patient relationship is over, how does the health care practitioner providing a mental health service dispose of these electronic records? In addit

We bring our clients the proven expertise of a large network of trained and qualified coders with substantial exposure to the coding requirements across all specialties, and working experience with small clinics, multispecialty providers, and hospitals.

We bring our clients the proven expertise of a large network of trained and qualified coders with substantial exposure to the coding requirements across all specialties, and working experience with small clinics, multispecialty providers, and hospitals.

Health Insurance Market Reforms under Obamacare: The Patient Protection and Affordable Act (PPACA), or Obamacare, sets out a number of provisions for health insurance market reforms. Having been set in motion in March 2010; the PPACA sets out health insurance market reforms that are being implemented in stages from dates commencing generally from January 1, 2014. PPACA's health insurance market reforms are aimed at health insurance standards and group health plans. These reforms set out dates for the implementation of these reforms. They also prescribe penalties for noncompliance with these reforms. What kinds of market reforms are needed? The health insurance market reforms suggested by PPACA are almost singularly for group health plans. A group health plan is defined as one in which the employer makes a contribution into expenses accruing from the employee's health insurance plans. When an employer chooses to bring an employee's health plan under her coverage; the employer has to mandatorily comply with the provisions of the health insurance market reforms. Areas of the health insurance market reforms: These are the essential areas in which the health insurance market reforms are to be applied: Removal of lifetime and annual limits on essential health benefits: One of the primary provisions of the health insurance market reforms under PPACA is that it prohibits both lifetime and annual limits on essential health benefits, which were allowed some dollar limits prior to enactment of Obamacare. Preventive health services: An area of preventive health services that has undergone an amendment under the health insurance market reforms is that of no-cost sharing. Accordingly, employer plans are to offer preventive health services without requiring the employee to share the burden for this part of the plan. The three-month waiting period: The health insurance market reforms don't require a waiting period of over 90 days. A waiting period is the period that has

Quality Assurance in Nursing Healthcare: Quality assurance in nursing is about assuring quality in nursing by ensuring that practices are compliant with quality standards. This is a full-fledged profession with its own educational and experience requirements. Quality assurance in nursing has to be understood from the standpoint of quality assurance and compliance. Quality assurance in nursing is about ensuring adherence to quality standards as mandated by nursing regulatory bodies. Quality assurance in nursing assesses what healthcare processes are in place and what else needs to be implemented to better the system. Where do quality assurance nurses work? Professionals who make a career out of quality assurance in nursing are employed in various healthcare settings. They could work in clinics or small or large hospitals. Professionals who make a career in quality assurance in nursing are licensed registered nurses. Since they are registered nurses, they should also obtain a licentiate. To get this, they should complete a prerequisite approved nursing program. The exam for getting licensure is the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN), a computer-based examination. A higher level of education for those in quality assurance in nursing is a master's degrees inhealth care quality or a near degree. In some healthcare organizations, this is required at entry level. Some of the works they do in maintaining quality assurance in nursing include: Reviewing reports or files to make sure that activities contained in them are following regulatory clinical standards Collaborating with colleagues from other departments to which nursing is related either directly or indirectly Interacting with other hospitals or organizations, if the need arises For professionals pursuing a career in quality assurance in nursing, the ability to analyze data and manage cases is a must, as a major part of their work involves these. They should also be prompt abou

Patient Safety in Medical Education A very important aspect of medical education that had been overlooked for a long time is patient safety. When patient safety in medical education gets relegated to the backseat; the result is there for everyone to see: something like close to a 100,000 deaths at the turn of the previous century, according to the alarming results of a comprehensive study carried out by the Institute of Medicine. The tragedy of these deaths is that these were preventable. This reinforces the belief that patient safety in medical education is the core factor, which if handled properly, can save thousands of lives. How does patient safety in medical education come about? It goes without saying that physicians and other caregivers practice in their professions what they learn in schools. So, patient safety in medical education has to be incorporated into the curriculum at the earliest stages. Hospitals, medical colleges and other institutes that impart medical education have now started taking more than mere baby steps in inculcating patient safety in medical education as a core part of teaching, the already heavily burdened curriculum in medical education notwithstanding. Efforts by medical education bodies Following the publication of the IOM report, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Curriculum Management and Information Tool (CurrMit) in the US and Medical Schools Council and the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK sprang into action, announcing a slew of measures aimed at bringing about and reinforcing patient safety in medical education. Entire lessons and chapters are devoted to patient safety in medical education. Keywords and technical jargon relating to patient safety are now a highly visible aspect of patient safety in medical education. These are spread across all disciples and subjects of medical education, be it gynecology or anesthetics. What should curricula teach about patient safety in medical edu

Implementation of Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research is critical One of the prime areas of clinical studies is regulatory aspects of clinical research. This applies in almost equal measure to medical research as a whole. The FDA and other regulatory bodies have spelt out a number of regulations that have to be complied with if the clinical research is to be approved. These regulatory requirements cover all aspects of clinical research. A look at some of these regulatory aspects would be instructive: FDA requirements on regulatory aspects of clinical research The FDA has an exhaustive list of regulations relating to Good Clinical Practice (GCP), the area which forms the backbone of regulatory aspects of clinical research. The FDA has a series of regulations that are aimed at bringing in discipline and process into clinical research. It implements all the laws relating to GCP passed by the American Congress. At present, there are a huge number of regulatory standards and requirements that have to be complied with by those undertaking clinical research in the US. These regulations are codified in the 21 CFR series. Notable sections of the 21 CFR series relating to regulatory aspects of clinical research include: 21 CFR Part 11 21 CFR Part 16 21 CFR Part 50 21 CFR Parts 50 and 56 21 CFR Part 54 21 CFR Part 58 21 CFR Part 312 21 CFR 312.120 21 CFR Part 314 21 CFR Part 320 21 CFR Part 511 21 CFR Part 514 21 CFR Part 601 21 CFR Part 812 21 CFR Part 814 EU requirements on regulatory aspects of clinical research In the EU, the core aspect of regulatory aspects of clinical research relates to the primary importance given to the subjects in a clinical research. For example, regulatory aspects of clinical research France are guided by the Public Health Code and Civil Code. This Code contains a list of regulatory conditions clinicians are obliged to adhere to. These regulations are to be monitored by a number of regulation enforcement bodies that the French governm

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

The emerging discipline of Hospitals Management Performance Assessments Over the past few years, Hospitals Management Performance Assessments have begun to gain acceptability and credence in healthcare circles. Hospitals Management Performance Assessments came into being as a result of a conscious effort by advanced countries, mainly European, with sufficient backing from the World Health Organization (WHO) to arrive at some sort of metrics to evaluate the critical functioning levels of hospitals. The topic of Hospitals Management Performance Assessments came to acquire proper shape and structure following the heavy reference the WHO made to this discipline at the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Health Systems of June 2008. The following year, it found resonance again, when it was the theme of the World Health Day. The evaluation of Hospitals Management Performance Assessments Hospitals Management Performance Assessments started to evolve primarily to provide healthcare professionals with a tool to diagnose the quality of performance of the hospitals and other healthcare settings they work in. It was felt, over time and experience, that when strict appraisals were being made in many areas of healthcare, a set of parameters to assess the level of efficiency of hospitals would go a long way in ensuring the implementation of enhanced processes, leading to better patient outcomes. Areas of concentration for Hospitals Management Performance Assessments The core disciplines in which Hospitals Management Performance Assessments sought to bring about measurable and verifiable improvements were: The PATH approach As a result of discussions and deliberations the WHO held with many countries, primarily European, a path for charting out the course of Hospitals Management Performance Assessments was concretized in the form of what the WHO called the PATH - the Performance Assessment Tool for Quality Improvement in Hospitals. A brief understanding of PATH PATH

Healthcare Rehabilitation is a vast field: The field of healthcare rehabilitation is very vast and expansive. In traditional societies, most commonly relatable to the Orient and Africa, there is the ages-old cultural belief that it is the duty of children to take care of their parents when they age. On the contrary, for us in the west, healthcare rehabilitation has emerged as a specialized branch of healthcare because of the emphasis our society places on independence of the individual. Healthcare rehabilitation is a product of social mores: Younger generations of people are not expected to spend entire years, as may be the case in some families, to look after people of their previous generations who may be in need of medical care. It is on this outlook towards life of our society that healthcare rehabilitation has come into being. However, it is also possible that younger people could also be in need of healthcare rehabilitation. Even such people are put in the care of healthcare providers which offer these services. The divisions of healthcare rehabilitation: Branching out as a fully developed field of healthcare, healthcare rehabilitation has many specializations. These are broadly the areas in which healthcare rehabilitation is offered: General rehabilitation: General rehabilitation of some or another kind is a primary aspect of healthcare rehabilitation. Those in need of this kind of care typically include patients who have lost their ability to carry out day-to-day tasks such as talking, walking, brushing, eating, etc. many a time, depending on the nature of the ailment, rehabilitation could include therapies, exercises and other activities aimed at bringing in some element of mobility in the patient. This kind of healthcare rehabilitation could also include taking care to revive the patient's memory, when patients with diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's are admitted for healthcare rehabilitation. Skilled nursing: An area in which a skilled and

Course "Marketing Products without Getting Hammered by FDA" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: With this seminar you will learn how to navigate FDA's legal requirements and its interpretations for enforcement purposes. The agency now applies the principles of cognitive psychology to aid in its determination of what a message really conveys. This becomes a new factor in trying to stay within FDA's legal corral. This conference will provide insight on how to manage your marketing activity and gauge what regulatory risks your business is willing to accept. You will learn how corporate management requires cooperation between marketing, regulatory affairs, legal counsel, manufacturing, engineering and finance departments. You will understand that a weak link in any department leaves the entire corporation vulnerable to FDA enforcement. Most importantly, you will understand the boundaries that FDA uses and how easy it is to cross them. With information from this course, you can step back and rationally evaluate your firm's regulatory profile for advertising and promotion. Why should you attend: If you go "off label" with advertising and promotion, you become embroiled in FDA's advertising and promotion requirements. For devices, the law is weak and lacks legal clarity. For drugs, FDA's law and regulations are extensive and have violated Constitutional protections. Depending on your point of FDA's promotion and advertising requirements can help you or hurt you? There is an inherent conflict in interests. In any case, you need to identify practical criteria to make marketing decisions. That begs the question of whether or not marketing managers and regulatory affairs managers will even try to agree on an issue. FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has never issued a comprehensive guidance on advertising and promotion. You are on your own. CDER has esta

HIPAA Privacy Myths: HIPAA, the most comprehensive and as of now, the only truly Pan-American federal statute on health information, is unfortunately, still a target of misconceptions and myths. In particular, the Privacy Rule, which is the cornerstone of HIPAA's rule on confidentiality of patient information, offers room for many misconceptions. A few common HIPAA Privacy Myths: HIPAA Privacy Myths regarding communication between the patient and physician A common HIPAA Privacy Myth relates to the communication of mails between the patient and the physician. It is a common misconception that since the Privacy Rule is about ensuring the patient's privacy; it disallows email communication between the doctor and the patient. HIPAA Privacy Rule does allow this form of communication, so that the requisite safeguards are built into the communication aimed at ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of the mails. Transmission of the patient's protected health information Another of the common HIPAA Privacy Myths pertains to the transmission of patient information from one healthcare facility to another. Fact is, no permission is required for Covered Entities to disclose patient information from one clinic to another. The Covered Entity can also share Protected Health Information about the patient for legitimate purposes without the patient's consent or knowledge. Cumbersome and expensive HIPAA Privacy Rule regulations Many people tend to believe that the HIPAA Privacy Rule is a tangled web of regulations that are so complex and painstaking in terms of the administrative detail that implementation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule on a national scale is going to burn a hole in the national exchequer. This is completely untrue. On the contrary, over the years, implementation of the HIPAA Privacy Rule has been bringing down the administrative costs quite significantly, resulting in saving of a few billion dollars in the long run on administrative tasks like transactions

Elements of an efficient Healthcare computer system implementation Healthcare computer system implementation lies at the heart of a healthcare delivery information system. The processing and dissemination of information in extremely quick time is indispensable to healthcare, given the number of processes that go into the healthcare information system, and the improvement in care this can bring about. A healthcare computer system, which can be described as the ecosystem of a healthcare delivery information system, is thus a critical component, because this healthcare computer system implementation is what decides between the efficiency of a healthcare information system and lack of it. A healthcare computer system implementation should cover all the core areas that are part of a healthcare delivery information system, such as the patient, the caregiver, the medical records concerning the patient, the healthcare organization, and other aspects of administration, such as admission, billing and so on. What goes into an efficient healthcare computer system implementation? An efficient healthcare computer system implementation consists of taking into account all the major elements of a healthcare delivery information system. It should have the ability to synchronize, coordinate and integrate vital data from across departments and systems. An efficient healthcare computer system implementation should also take into account the technologies that go into them. Technologies keep changing rapidly. New ones come into being and render the old ones obsolete in no time. A healthcare computer system implementation has to take into account the nature of these changes, and should implement them in quick time. Technologies and technological tools that are doing the rounds today include the cloud, mobile technologies and the social media. So, a healthcare computer system implementation has to integrate these. In the particular context of the American healthcare system, healthca

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