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Course "Fundamentals of Statistical Process Control: Implementation and Assurance of SPC" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: This 2-day seminar provides the information you need to use one of the most powerful tools in quality, statistical process control. It will help people in design, quality, and production understand the concepts and effectively implement them. The examples and issues in the seminar come primarily from the medical device industry, but the material is applicable to any production environment. Production process must be controlled to help ensure they are stable. While there are many control methods, the most powerful and often used is statistical process control, SPC. It uses data from the process itself to detect changes - changes that could result from an unstable process. SPC helps determine if a process continues to operate the way it was set up. If not, SPC produces a signal that calls attention to the problem. One very important application is process capability analysis. With a stable process, SPC data can help determine if the process is capable of meeting the product specifications. These are often expressed as process capability indices. Continuous improvement programs can use the information generated by SPC to monitor process variation and identify its causes. These methods can reduce cost, improve product, and enhance customer satisfaction. Why should you attend: Manufacturing companies, especially medical device manufacturers, must control process. Not only is this a regulatory requirement, but is a good business practice. Without a solid understanding of SPC, you put yourself and your company at a disadvantage. On a personal basis, the material in this seminar will help improve your skills; it aligns with the ASQ Body of Knowledge for the Certified Quality Engineer, Green Belt, and Black Belt. These are areas you should master

Overview: The presentation takes the participant through the steps needed to ensure a successful health care computer system implementation. Once presented the participant will see the logic of the tools and processes and be able to apply them to their system implementation. The tools and processes presented in this material have been developed by implementing health care systems for over 40 years and seeing what has worked and WHY it has worked. These tools and processes have been equally and successfully applied to the implementation of large, complex systems and smaller, simpler systems for large, multidepartment organizations and for small health care organizations. The process focuses on establishing the project's implementation expectations, identifying meaningful metrics for success, establishing project plans, assigning individual accountabilities and responsibilities, establishing and executing project tasks, monitoring project progress and validating project success. To establish viable project expectations, the presentation addresses the need for bringing all of the stakeholders (organization owners, providers and management, operations staff, IT staff and the vendor) into establishing common and realizable expectations. These are reviewed in context of the organization's current environment and its short and long term goals and are considered as a critical part of the implementation completion process. In the case of turning around an already troubled or failed system implementation, the process emphasizes the tasks of reassessing the project stakeholder expectations - why they decided the system would help the organization and what they expected to get from the system. Next the process shows the participant how to convert these expectations to realistic and measurable project success metrics. The process focuses on learning how to separate "so what" metrics from meaningful and measurable metrics. In addition, the process provides direction regardin

2-day In-person Seminar Applied Statistics, with Emphasis on Risk Management in R&D, QA/QC, and Manufacturing Overview: The 2-day seminar explains how to apply statistics to manage risk in R&D, QA/QC, and Manufacturing, with examples derived mainly from the medical device design/manufacturing industry. The flow of topics over the 2 days is as follows: ISO standards and FDA/MDD regulations regarding the use of statistics. Basic vocabulary and concepts. Statistical Process Control Statistical methods for Design Verification Statistical methods for Product/Process Qualification Metrology: the statistical analysis of measurement uncertainty, and how it is used to establish QC specifications How to craft "statistically valid conclusion statements" (e.g., for reports) Summary, from a risk management perspective Agenda Day One Lecture 1: Regulatory Requirements Lecture 2: Vocabulary and Concepts Lecture 3: Confidence Intervals (attribute and variables data) Lecture 4: Normality Tests and Normality Transformations Lecture 5: Statistical Process Control (with focus on XbarR charts) Lecture 6: Confidence/Reliability calculations for Proportions Lecture 7: Confidence/Reliability calculations for Normally distributed data (K-tables) Lecture 8: Process Capability Indices calculations(Cp, Cpk, Pp, Ppk) Day Two Lecture 1: Confidence/Reliability calculations using Reliability Plotting (e.g., for non-normal data and/or censored studies) Lecture 2: Confidence/Reliability calculations for MTTF and MTBF (this typically applies only to electronic equipment) Lecture 3: Statistical Significance: t-Tests and related "power" estimations Lecture 4: Statistical Significance: ANOVA calculations Lecture 5: Metrology (Gage R&R, Correlation, Linearity, Bias , and Uncertainty Budgets) Lecture 6: QC Sampling Plans (C=0 and Z1.4 attribute AQL plans, and alternatives to such plans) Lecture 7: Statistically valid statements for use in reports Lecture 8: Summary and Impleme

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

Course "Effective and Efficient Internal and Supplier Quality System Auditing for Medical Devices" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: Do you want to understand how to do efficient and effective internal and supplier audits that meet all the requirements of your external auditors, but also add value to your company? Are you confused by all the requirements and guidance documents for medical device quality management systems and are tired of wading through all the regulatory language they contain. This course is for those who will do internal or supplier audits, manage an audit process for these or other company audits. This course will provide you with an easy to understand presentation on the auditing process as well as the requirements you will need to audit under ISO 13485 and the FDA Quality System Regulation (cGMP) Both FDA Quality System Regulation (QSR) and ISO 13485 require that companies do internal audits. However, because the FDA does not look at the content of internal audits, some companies do not get feedback on the true effectiveness of their internal audit system from the FDA during FDA Inspections. ISO 13485 auditors do look at internal audits, but are most concerned that you define a process that meets the requirements of the standard and are following your process. Both require that you define Auditor training is required, but this sometimes just requires reading the company's procedure, although most external auditors will look for more than this. Do you need to train new auditors for yours medical device quality management system or to audit your suppliers? Or do you need to improve the training of your internal and supplier auditors so that they add value to these audits? If you need to do either of these, this seminar will provide this training. In addition to auditing skills and hands-on auditing exercises, this seminar will provide an ove

Course "Risk Analysis and Design of Experiments (DOE) in Process Validation and Development" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: This course is designed to help scientists and engineers plan and conduct experiments and analyze the data to develop predictive models used to optimize processes and products and solve complex problems. DOE is an extremely efficient method to understand which variables (and interactions) affect key outcomes and allows the development of mathematical models used to optimize process and product performance. The models also provide an understanding of the impact of variability in controllable and uncontrollable factors on important responses. The concepts behind DOE are covered along with some effective types of screening experiments. Case studies will also be presented to illustrate the use of the methods. This highly interactive course will allow participants the opportunity to practice applying DOE techniques with various data sets. The objective is to provide participants with the key tools and knowledge to be able to apply the methods effectively in their process and product development efforts. Why should you attend: · Plan and conduct experiments in an effective and efficient manner · Apply good experimental practices when conducting studies · Determine statistical significance of main and interaction effects · Interpret significant main and interaction effects · Develop predictive models to explain and optimize process/product behavior · Check models for validity · Utilize models for one or more responses to find optimal solutions · Apply very efficient fractional factorial designs in screening experiments · Apply response surface designs for

Course "Verification vs. Validation - Product Process Software and QMS" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: This course will review the company Master Validation Plan for major key inputs and CGMP deficiencies. It will address the FDA's newer and tougher regulatory stance. This course's aim is to prove "Product Risk Based V&V" by sufficient, targeted and documented risk-based V&V test case elements/scripts. It will teach participants to evaluate its elements against ISO 14971 and ICH Q9 for hazard analysis and product risk management. This course will evaluate different field-tested, U.S. FDA-reviewed V&V protocols; how to employ equipment/process Requirements Specs / DQs, IQs, OQs, and PQs, or their equivalents per ASTM E2500, all against a background of limited company resources. It will review a matrix that simplifies "as-product", in-product", process and equipment, et al, software VT&V, to assure key FDA requirements are not overlooked. While considering the QMS and 21 CFR Part 11; this course will make practical application of these same in two hands-on sessions. Why you should attend: This session helps participants: * Understand Verification and Validation, differences and how they work together; * Discuss recent regulatory expectations; * Know how to document a "risk-based" rationale, and use it in a resource-constrained environment; * Determine key "milestones" and "tasks" in a project; * Locate and document key subject "inputs"; * Compile "generic" Master and Individual Validation Plans; * Learn the key element of a Product V&V File/Protocol; * Understand how to develop Process and/or Production/Test Equipment V&V Files/Protocols; * Get a grasp of basic Test Case construction; * Understand sample sizes and their justification; * Learn the key elements of Software V&V expected by the FDA and how to document; * Deal with hardwa

Quality Management in Healthcare: Quality management in healthcare is a critical requirement for healthcare organizations. Making quality management patient-centric comes first. Adapting and implementing standards and tools is the next step towards this. Quality management in healthcare is of critical importance to the healthcare industry and the patient. Everyone in the loop -from physicians to practitioners to support staff -needs to be aware of the importance of quality management in healthcare. The most basic purpose of imparting high quality management in healthcare is to make sure that the patient is well taken care of. For this to happen, the healthcare setting has to implement systems and processes. Quality management centers on process management. If organizations have to ensure that meaningful quality management in healthcare is being implemented; they have to adhere to processes. Adapting standards and instilling processes into the healthcare system is how healthcare providers can assure quality in healthcare. Patient is at the center of quality management in healthcare Obviously, the first step in the direction of implementing quality management in healthcare is to make the healthcare setting's care and processes patient-oriented and patient-centric. Quality management in healthcare begins with the patient and should be fully tuned to her needs. As patients' requirements and expectations vary over time; quality management has to keep upgrading itself to keep up with the changing needs and demands. In line with this, the following means can go a long way in ensuring quality management in healthcare: The healthcare setting has to identify goals for ensuring quality management in healthcare. Each department has to be given measurable goals to reach. Implementing quality standards goes a long way in ensuring that quality management in healthcare is imparted in the organization. Six Sigma, ISO 9001 and ANOVA are some of the popular standards a

Quality Management in Healthcare: Quality management in healthcare is a critical requirement for healthcare organizations. Making quality management patient-centric comes first. Adapting and implementing standards and tools is the next step towards this. Quality management in healthcare is of critical importance to the healthcare industry and the patient. Everyone in the loop -from physicians to practitioners to support staff -needs to be aware of the importance of quality management in healthcare. The most basic purpose of imparting high quality management in healthcare is to make sure that the patient is well taken care of. For this to happen, the healthcare setting has to implement systems and processes. Quality management centers on process management. If organizations have to ensure that meaningful quality management in healthcare is being implemented; they have to adhere to processes. Adapting standards and instilling processes into the healthcare system is how healthcare providers can assure quality in healthcare. Patient is at the center of quality management in healthcare Obviously, the first step in the direction of implementing quality management in healthcare is to make the healthcare setting's care and processes patient-oriented and patient-centric. Quality management in healthcare begins with the patient and should be fully tuned to her needs. As patients' requirements and expectations vary over time; quality management has to keep upgrading itself to keep up with the changing needs and demands. In line with this, the following means can go a long way in ensuring quality management in healthcare: The healthcare setting has to identify goals for ensuring quality management in healthcare. Each department has to be given measurable goals to reach. Implementing quality standards goes a long way in ensuring that quality management in healthcare is imparted in the organization. Six Sigma, ISO 9001 and ANOVA are some of the popular standards a

Course "Supplier Management for Medical Device Manufacturers" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: Supplier selection and management is one of the critical issues for medical device manufacturers. Suppliers provide materials and services to the device manufacturer, which means that they can be critical to performance and delivery of your device. Neither the FDA nor your notified body regulates your suppliers (with a few exceptions). They expect you to have an effective process to ensure your suppliers perform in the regulatory environment. How well do you understand the requirements for supplier management? Could you pass a regulatory audit or inspection without any issues? This course delivers the tools, templates, and methods to help participants implement an effective and efficient supplier management program. This two-day hands-on course provides a clear understanding of the underlying principles of supplier management. The course uses exercises to solidify understanding. In addition, the course uses FDA Warning Letters to illustrate the points and help you learn from others. As part of the practical implementation, the course includes receiving acceptance activities, outsourced processes, process validation at the suppliers' location, supplier auditing techniques, and supplier issues in management review. The course uses the Global Harmonization Task Force (GHTF) framework, but expands it to cover other issues and techniques important in effective implementation. Why should you attend: Since FDA regulations do not allow them to audit your suppliers unless they make finished medical devices, they require that you have sufficient control over them. But from time to time the FDA makes a reinterpretation of what this means. This happened within the last f 5 years, so if you supplier management program is older than that, you need to make major changes in you supp

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

Seminar on Analytical Instrument Qualification and Validation: Understanding to Prepare for FDA Audits to become Part 11 Compliant at Boston, MA Course "Analytical Instrument Qualification and Validation: Understanding to Prepare for FDA Audits to become Part 11 Compliant" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: In this two day workshop conference you will learn the different global agencies expectations of analytical equipment qualification along with the development of a sound process validation program in order to develop and implement bulletproof solutions that are accepted, effective, and efficient. Through case study analysis we will examine best practices to provide thoughts and ideas to develop or improve the performance of your current system. Additionally, case studies will explore how your management practices of your analytical equipment qualification/ validation and process validation programs can help or hurt your legal liability and the legal issues that arise from nonconformance with regulators and Auditors. This seminar will help attendees understand the instrument qualification and system validation processes and will provide instruction on how to prepare for FDA audits and how to become part 11 compliant. Why should you attend? The cost of non-compliance is therefore more than that of compliance. Are you in compliance with the FDA regulations for analytical equipment qualification and validation in your facility? Areas Covered in the Session: * Learn about the regulatory background and requirements for laboratory instrument qualification and system validation * Understand the logic and principles of instrument qualification and system validation from validation planning reporting * Understand and be able to explain your company's qualification and validation strategies * Be able to independently prepare execute test protocols, this includes s

Overview: Upon completing this course participants will leave with a preliminary preventive control implementation plan and will: * Understand US FDA final rules for the Preventive Controls for Human and Animal Foods * Define and review your current system to identify gaps in your preventive controls planning. * Be able to develop and implement a valid preventive control company food safety plan to close any gaps * Write and implement appropriate procedures. * Know your requirements for control over your supply chain * Be able to plan and implement HARPC * Be able to perform environmental monitoring * Know how cross contamination can impact your preventive control plan * Know the difference between validation and verification * Understand and be able to use statistical process controls basics * Be able to plan and implement a team approach to preventive controls * Be able to help your food importers to jump through FDA hoops * Develop a system to risk rank your suppliers * Have a plan in hand that will pass any validation check for preventive controls * Understand some of the technology and costs that can help you establish preventive controls * Prove that your system actually prevents food safety problems * Be able to document and report results to upper management, external food safety auditors and FDA auditors * Save your company money Establish simple, low cost complete data collection and reporting systems. * Establish teambuilding between food safety and quality personnel to develop and implement changes to your current system * Understand food safety, security and recall responsibilities in light of cargo theft, adulteration and temperature failures * Learn how to use your system to get some ROI and improve your marketing position * Review current and future technologies designed to improve and simplify data collection * Establish a completely documented system Why should you attend: Validation of preventive co

Overview: Hospital chargemasters are complex and represent a key component for the revenue cycle of hospitals. Chargemasters are intertwined with coding for services, billing for services, charging for services and even involve the cost reporting process. A myriad of decisions must be made concerning how the chargemaster is organized, impacts on coding and billing, charge structuring, cost accounting, and other processes within the revenue cycle. Whenever decisions are made, policies and procedures should be developed, approved and implemented. A proper system of billing and chargemaster policies and procedures can help to maintain an appropriate compliance stance in a world where ambiguous guidance is often the norm. The development of charges and charge structuring within the chargemaster is a major issue often referred to as transparent pricing. While even the Medicare program maintains that hospitals should charge for everything, the way in which charges are set and amalgamated at the claim level can vary significantly between hospitals. A key issue for the chargemaster is differentiating separately charging from separately reporting. The way in which hospitals make decisions about the bundling of charges at the line-item level within the chargemaster leads to many decisions, all of which need justification through proper policies and procedures. Due consideration must be given to departmental concerns about revenue generation, cost reporting implications, coding implications and any associate challenges with billing and claims filing. Why should you Attend: See Typical Questions - Here are some reworded marketing questions: Why are the chargemaster and hospital billing targets of compliance audits? How should we prioritize statutory and contractual compliance for the chargemaster and billing process? Will chargemaster and associated billing policies and procedures give us protection relative to compliance? How should we develop a system of chargemaster po

Overview: Today's diverse, fast-changing, multidisciplinary mental health care environment involves many mental health care professionals who work together for the common goal of the patient. This includes physicians/psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, psychologists, and others. Nothing in health care is more fractured than in mental health among a multitude of mental health practitioners. Like physicians/psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses, psychologists as health care practitioners obtained an education, passed applicable examinations, completed professional training, and hold a license to practice their chosen profession of psychology, often by being educated and trained at the doctoral level. The license to practice is issued by the state agency which has exclusive jurisdiction over this health care practitioner. Thereafter, the state's authority and power over the psychologist often presents challenges to that professional that are not easy to navigate. Their governing state agency routinely handles, investigates, and dismisses- or prosecutes - alleged violations of law that can be career ending for the psychologist if pursued. But that process takes time with many steps necessary for due process of law. One of the ultimate actions the state may take is to issue a suspension or revocation of the psychologist's professional license. Yet many state actions fall short of such drastic outcomes, but still have serious, permanent consequences for the psychologist as a licensed health care professional. Learn to identify the legal authority for state agencies to regulate the practice of psychology. Seek to understand and defend against state actions which may result in ruinous practice and career consequences for the health care professional. This program offers an objective, thorough review of the ethical and legal violations committed by psychologists. This program also reviews defenses with practice tips to defend successfully those common violations. Otherwis

Overview: In this session we will discuss the HIPAA audit and enforcement programs and how they work, and discuss the areas that caused the most issues in prior audits. We will explore what kind of issues and what kind of entities had the most problems, and show where entities need to improve their compliance the most. We will also explore the typical risk issues that lead to breaches of health information and see how those issues may be a target for auditors in the new 2016 audits. We will review the contents of the HIPAA Audit Protocol used in 2012 to show what documentation needs to be on hand should your organization be selected for an audit in the new round. We will present methods for using the contents of the HIPAA Audit Protocol to build your own compliance plan by extracting and updating the contents and relating your compliance activities directly to the questions that might be asked. In this session we will discuss the HIPAA audit and enforcement regulations and processes, and how they apply to HIPAA covered entities and business associates. We will explain the enforcement regulations and the new, increased fines and new penalty levels, including new penalties for willful neglect of compliance that begin at $10,000. We will discuss what information and documentation must be prepared in advance so that you can be ready for an audit at any time, including sample information request forms and questions asked at prior audits. The session will also cover how to know if you may become the subject of an audit or enforcement action, and what you can do to help limit your exposure. We will discuss how most enforcement actions come about and what can be done to prevent incidents that lead to enforcement activity. The HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification regulations (and the recent changes to them) and how they will be audited will be explained. Documentation requirements for compliance will be explored and a framework of security policies necessary

Quality Management in Healthcare: Quality management in healthcare is a critical requirement for healthcare organizations. Making quality management patient-centric comes first. Adapting and implementing standards and tools is the next step towards this. Quality management in healthcare is of critical importance to the healthcare industry and the patient. Everyone in the loop -from physicians to practitioners to support staff -needs to be aware of the importance of quality management in healthcare. The most basic purpose of imparting high quality management in healthcare is to make sure that the patient is well taken care of. For this to happen, the healthcare setting has to implement systems and processes. Quality management centers on process management. If organizations have to ensure that meaningful quality management in healthcare is being implemented; they have to adhere to processes. Adapting standards and instilling processes into the healthcare system is how healthcare providers can assure quality in healthcare. Patient is at the center of quality management in healthcare: Obviously, the first step in the direction of implementing quality management in healthcare is to make the healthcare setting's care and processes patient-oriented and patient-centric. Quality management in healthcare begins with the patient and should be fully tuned to her needs. As patients' requirements and expectations vary over time; quality management has to keep upgrading itself to keep up with the changing needs and demands. In line with this, the following means can go a long way in ensuring quality management in healthcare: The healthcare setting has to identify goals for ensuring quality management in healthcare. Each department has to be given measurable goals to reach. Implementing quality standards goes a long way in ensuring that quality management in healthcare is imparted in the organization. Six Sigma, ISO 9001 and ANOVA are some of the popular standards and tools t

Overview: Learn how to improve your healthcare compliance program by using requirements found in corporate integrity agreements (CIAs) issued by the OIG. By proactively incorporating various features of CIAs, healthcare providers of all types can be better assured of meeting compliance standards. While there are many different types of healthcare compliance issues, probably the area of most concern is that of properly filing claims and receiving appropriate reimbursement. The OIG has issued various types of guidance including Federal Register entries, fraud alerts, and issues as listed in the OIG Work Plans. By providing such guidance, the OIG has given healthcare providers notice so that there can be no defense of not knowing about an issue. By organizing your compliance program to detect and then correcting various types of issues is a major objective of having a compliance program. Understanding systematic processes for improving your healthcare compliance program using CIA requirements can forestall possible criminal and civil monetary penalties. The hundreds of CIAs that have been developed when the OIG detects fraudulent activities can be used as a guide for developing and improving healthcare compliance programs for all types of healthcare providers. The process of statistical extrapolation is used by the OIG when conducting studies in order to determine recoupment amounts. Statistical extrapolation can also be used by healthcare providers when determining possible overpayments. However, the proper use of statistical extrapolation is a formal and complex mathematical process that must be properly applied. The OIG CIAs provide another resource for healthcare providers to study, understand, and then apply as appropriate. Why should you Attend: What are the OIG Corporate Integrity Agreements (CIAs)? Why does the OIG issue CIAs? Can I use general requirements from CIA to avoid monetary penalties or even avoid going to jail? Can any healthcare provider use

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 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

Course "Key Factors to Write an Effective Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and Work Instructions (WIs)" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: Writing SOPs or procedural documents can be challenging at times. However, writing SOPs is overall a straightforward process. However, enforcing what you already created and implemented in the pipeline is another story. The term SOP is very obvious. We have seen "clearly written description of how specific tasks are to be done." Another satisfactory definition would be "detailed written instructions that achieve the uniformity of the performance of a specific function." Is the firm doing what the regulations specify? Is the firm doing what their procedures specify? If you are medical device or a pharmaceutical manufacturer, these definitions come as no surprise because when it comes to FDA regulations and guidance documents "establish" means to define, to document (in writing or electronically) and to implement. The goal and emphasis with FDA is simple. Proof of "Establish" is the foundation. Is the firm doing what the regulations specify? Is the firm doing what their procedures specify? Are the procedures being followed and enforced by company personnel? SOPs are needed in regulated industries to give step-by-step instructions for performing a particular job or task. This session will provide a step-by-step overview and a snapshot of the procedure description, the process and format. The subject matter of a SOP may range from how to operate a piece of machinery to how to log into a particular software program. SOPs ensure consistency and reliability because they require training of all affected parties. This session will address recent enforcement actions for SOP related violations but no surprise. Most of our enforcement actions are documentation related, i.e., SOP or other procedural documents. We will review examples from