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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

Professional provider credentialing services offer valuable support, streamlining enrolment and saving time and resources for healthcare professionals. Using these services may unlock the door for a healthcare system that is more effective and efficient.

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: Become knowledgeable and understand the False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Statute, Physician Self-Referral Law, Excluded Individuals and additional criminal/civil laws that may worsen the punishment if these laws are violated. Understand the criteria of each law, exceptions and how to identify an issue that requires mitigation. Why should you Attend: Are you able to distinguish with certainty an agreement, contract or activity that is permissible versus one that is not under our current healthcare laws and regulations? Do you have a contract organization system where reviews are done regularly and retained centrally? Do you conduct auditing and monitoring of potential high risk compliance areas related to fraud, waste and abuse? If you are uncertain or need additional guidance on recognizing potential violations of healthcare fraud, waste and abuse regulations and how to audit and monitor for non-compliance, this training is for you. Areas Covered in the Session: Define and describe elements of the Anti-kickback Statute, False Claims Act, Exclusionary Rule, Physician Self-Referral Law and potential penalties for violations Discuss exceptions and related criteria to the Physician Self-Referral Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute Identify common potential issues that may result in violations and how to avoid or mitigate them Provide examples on how to comply with the regulations Describe areas to audit, monitor and implement policies/procedures for compliance Who Will Benefit: Health care providers Revenue cycle management employees Coders, Billers Compliance officers Contract management Compliance and Internal Audit professionals Healthcare administrators Speaker Profile Gail Madison Brown is a registered nurse and an attorney with over 25 years of experience in health care. For the last 15 years she has focused on health care compliance and revenue cycle management operations. Gail's experience ranges from starting new compliance programs and making impr

Course "HIPAA Security & Privacy Official - Roles and Responsibilities" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: Being the HIPAA Security and Privacy Official involves not only ensuring you know the appropriate patient rights and controls on your uses and disclosures of protected health information, but you also have the proper policies and procedures in place. If audited or the subject of a compliance review you will be required to show the government you have all the necessary documentation in place for safeguarding patient Protected Health Information and indicate how you addressed all required security safeguards. This starts with the fundamentals of a HIPAA compliance program. If your HIPAA Security and Privacy Official needs to understand what all the HIPAA requirements are or make sure the current program is adequate and can withstand government scrutiny, please join us for this informative and interactive seminar. Why you should attend: The HIPAA Security and Privacy Official is the backbone of any organization's compliance program. Often times this role is assigned as collateral duty in smaller organizations. Regardless the size of an organization, the HIPAA Security and Privacy Official must know all the requirements for compliance. This is a critical element of the position. Attendees will leave the course clearly understanding the role and all the requirements as the designated as a HIPAA Security and Privacy Official. This seminar will cover reviews, creation, and amending policy and procedure. After completing this course, a HIPAA Security and Privacy Official will have a clear understanding for what needs to be place when it comes to all of the HIPAA regulations. Areas Covered in the Session: Why was HIPAA created? The Role and Responsibilities of the HIPAA Security and Privacy Official Complying with HIPAA Requirements? What are the HIPAA Security

Course "HIPAA for the Compliance Officer" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: I will be going into great detail regarding you practice or business and how it relates to the HIPAA Security/Privacy Rule, Areas covered will be history of HIPAA, privacy vs security, business associates, changes for 2016, audit process, paper based PHI, HIPAA and suing, texting, email, encryption, medical messaging, voice data and much, much, more I will uncover myths versus reality as it relates to this very enigmatic law based on over 600 risk assessments performed as well as years of experience in dealing directly with the Office of Civil Rights HIPAA auditors. I will also speak to real life audits conducted by the Federal government (I've been on both sides of these audits) what your highest risks are for being fined (some of the risk factors may surprise you). In addition, this course will cover the highest risk factors for being sued for wrongful disclosures of PHI and the manner in which patients are now using state laws to sue for wrongful disclosures. Don't always believe what you read online about HIPAA, especially as it relates to encryption and IT, there are a lot of groups selling more than is necessarily required. Why you should attend: This lesson will be addressing how practice/business managers (or compliance offers) need to get their HIPAA house in order before the imminent audits occur. It will also address major changes under the Omnibus Rule and any other applicable updates for 2016. There are an enormous amount of issues and risks for covered entities and business associates these days. I will speak on specific experiences from over 17 years of experience in working as an outsourced compliance auditor, expert witness on HIPAA cases, and thoroughly explain how patients are now able to get cash remedies for wrongful disclosures of private health information. More im

Course "New HIPAA Audit and Enforcement Activities: Being Prepared to Show your Compliance " has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion. Overview: We will be discussing the history and evolution of HIPAA Privacy/Security and the major points you need to understand to proactively protect your practice or business from the imminent federal auditing process: * History of HIPAA * HITECH * HIPAA Omnibus Rule * How to perform a HIPAA Security Risk Assessment * What is involved in a Federal audit and how is it conducted * Risk factors for a federal audit * How to avoid a Federal audit * Business Associates and HIPAA audits * EHR and HIPAA * Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Planning * Assessing your contractors and sub-contractors * In depth discussions on IT down to the nuts and bolts * Risk factors that can cause an audit (low hanging fruit) * New rules which grant states ability to sue citing HIPAA on behalf of a patient * New funding measures Why should you attend : The evolutions of this enigmatic law and how what was once relative benign in terms of enforcement is now fully funded and aggressive. Learn what you can do to be prepared for an audit and how to lower risks of ever being audited. It is absolutely imperative that you are proactive and not reactive with your compliance program, this is a necessary evil and you need to protect your practice or your business and limit risks from the imminent Federal audits. Join me in keeping up with this very confusing law and take advantage of all the templates and information provided as part of the seminar. Areas Covered in the Session: * HIPAA -Brief History * HIPAA Privacy Rule vs HIPAA Security Rule * HITECH Act * Breach Notification Rule * Omnibus Rule and audits * Business Associates and audits * Current Court Cases (precedence) * Paper Based PHI Concerns and how to lower risk

Overview: I will be talking to specifics of HIPAA and the emergency room setting, do's and don'ts as well as dispelling myth vs reality. This lesson will be addressing how compliance officers need to get their HIPAA house in order as HIPAA is now fully enforced and the government is not using kid gloves any more. It will also address major changes under the Omnibus Rule and any other applicable updates for 2016 and beyond. There are an enormous amount of issues and risks for hospitals these days especially with the new legislation involving patient cash remedies for wrongful disclosure. I will speak on specific experiences from over 17 years of experience in working as an outsourced compliance auditor, expert witness on HIPAA cases within the ER, and thoroughly explain how patients are now able to get cash remedies for wrongful disclosures of private health information. More importantly I will show you how to limit those risks by simply taking proactive steps and utilizing best practices. Why should you Attend: What can and can't we do in the hectic emergency room with patient information? What are the new liabilities involved? How can we ensure security but also ensure patient care? This once rarely enforced law has changed and you need to know what's going on! What factors might spurn a HIPAA audit? …are you doing these things? Why are the Feds enforcing after all these years? State laws are now also more strict increasing liability for patient remedies! We will be discussing some of the changes taking place in Washington with the Health and Human Services in regards to the enforcement of the HIPAA laws already on the books. I will go over some of the new changes specifically affecting the emergency room setting I will also be discussing factors might cause an unwanted visit or letter from the Office of Civil Rights and how to prepare for a potential audit Areas Covered in the Session: Updates for Omnibus Emergency Room Do's and Don'ts in the ER Ambulato

Overview: Discussions, presentation, and webinars regarding HIPAA regulations are usually addressed from the perspective of what the regulations entail, the necessity of compliance with the regulations, and the consequences of willful neglect or non-compliance. This presentation addresses HIPAA regulations from a different perspective - from a personal perspective - from the perspective of the person in charge of moving an organization or facility toward full compliance with HIPAA. The by-product of this presentation will be both an understanding of, and a detailed job description for, a position mandated in the regulations - the HIPAA Security/Privacy Officer. Why should you attend: The HIPAA regulations are numerous, complicated, often vague, and affect every person working in a healthcare facility. Compliance with HIPAA will require a unique individual to lead the charge - an individual whose education, background, experience, and demonstrated skill sets offer the opportunity for that person to succeed in achieving the goals of that position. This is a new position to most healthcare facilities. So understanding who this person should be, what is required of the person with this job title, and with whom this person will interface is vital to every healthcare organization with the goal of achieving full compliance with HIPAA. Areas Covered in the Session: Position goals Position requirements (education, experience, skill sets, etc.) Position responsibilities Stay abreast of regulations Initiate compliance with HIPAA (according to regulations) Ensure continuous progress toward full compliance Develop appropriate security/privacy policies & procedures Oversee and deliver appropriate training programs to all employees Track compliance with HIPAA regulations at the facility & individual levels Track access to PHI Investigate and resolve HIPAA violations Apply sanctions to HIPAA violators Manage any information security personnel Prepare a department

Overview: Have you ever had a student who was excessively dramatic or who repeatedly monopolized discussions in a know-it-all, domineering, or aggressive fashion? Perhaps you've encountered a student who was so odd or anxious that they weren't able to participate in group activities or complete assignments. It's hard to know what to do when a student's personality just seems to take over your class, but you can't just stand by and do nothing. If they are not managed effectively, students with personality disorders take up a lot of time and can move your whole class in counterproductive directions. Sometimes these challenging students have a Personality Disorder, which is a persistent pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and themselves that is maladaptive, rigid, pervasive, and enduring. Personality Disorders also manifest in the student's emotional response and impulse control and can negatively impact classroom teaching and learning as well as a student's personal and academic success. Unless you are a particular student's psychiatrist, it's not your job to diagnose them as having a personality disorder, but it is helpful to recognize and understand signs of a personality disorder. This webinar will identify different personality disorders and review their common traits and characteristics. You will learn essential tools for dealing with Personality Disorders such as boundary setting, clear communication, and effective classroom management. In addition, you will review relevant mental health resources and when and how to make appropriate referrals to counseling, accessibility services, and student conduct. Why should you attend: If students with personality disorders are not managed effectively, their behavior can have a negative impact on teaching and learning. Areas Covered in the Session: Ten types of Personality Disorders Prevalence and Demographics Developmental issues Common traits and characteristics of Personality Dis

Overview: Participants will understand the importance of responding to the OCR pre-audit requests and how to respond. Our discussion will cover how to prepare for an anticipated OCR HIPAA privacy audit, by discussing how to conduct an internal self-assessment of your privacy program. We will discuss how to conduct the self-assessment, whether it be the need for policies, procedures or obtaining all of your business associates information. Why should you Attend: If you have received a request from the OCR to provide the name of your entities privacy official and additional criteria, you are already aware that you are on the OCR's radar and may be the focus of an audit. If you haven't received a request yet, anticipate receiving one soon. In addition to ensuring that your HIPAA program is audit ready, you also need to ensure that you know all of your business associates and have their information readily available to provide to the OCR. Your entity needs to be ready now, as the OCR will either conduct focused desk audits, on-site audits or both in effort to review documentation of evidence of your compliance with the HIPAA regulation. Areas Covered in the Session: Office of Civil Rights "OCR" requests for privacy official and additional information and timeline for response Internal assessment criteria of privacy program in anticipation of an OCR audit Conducting the assessment using the template based upon HIPAA regulations Discuss methods to address any found deficiencies Workforce training Who Will Benefit: Healthcare providers Compliance and Internal Audit professionals or office staff responsible for ensuring patient privacy Healthcare Administrators Business Associates and all HIPAA Covered Entities Speaker Profile Gail Madison Brown is a registered nurse and an attorney with over 25 years of experience in health care. For the last 15 years she has focused on health care compliance and revenue cycle management operations. Gail's experience ranges

Overview: Participants will learn how to conduct an investigation of allegations of patient privacy violations using a privacy "risk analysis" tool and steps that should be taken when a breach has been determined. Why should you Attend: You must conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of all allegations of privacy violations. A violation of a patient's privacy may result in monetary penalties, harm to your reputation and especially harm to a patient. You need to make certain your organization has the expertise to conduct a thorough privacy investigation, analyze the results and take all necessary action to mitigate and report violations when required. Areas Covered in the Session: Best practices for conducting a privacy investigation Use of the risk analysis tool Interpretation of your results Reporting requirements if necessary Recommendations of continued privacy monitoring Workforce training Who Will Benefit: Healthcare providers Compliance and Internal Audit professionals or office staff responsible for ensuring patient privacy Healthcare Administrators Business Associates and all HIPAA Covered Entities Speaker Profile : Gail Madison Brown is a registered nurse and an attorney with over 25 years of experience in health care. For the last 15 years she has focused on health care compliance and revenue cycle management operations. Gail's experience ranges from starting new compliance programs and making improvements to existing programs for physician practices to large health care organizations. Gail also has provided numerous lectures to healthcare providers, executives and professional colleagues. Gail Madison Brown will develop, implement, and oversee processes, systems, educational programs, and other activities necessary to support and grow clinical trials activities at the UT Health Science Center. The Chief Clinical Trails Officer (CCTO) provides overall strategic leadership in this area including planning, goal setting, and monitoring organ

Overview: I will be talking to specifics of HIPAA in the hospital setting, , do's and don'ts as well as dispelling myth vs reality. This lesson will be addressing how compliance officers need to get their HIPAA house in order as HIPAA is now fully enforced and the government is not using kid gloves any more. It will also address major changes under the Omnibus Rule and any other applicable updates for 2016 and beyond. There are an enormous amount of issues and risks for hospitals these days especially with the new legislation involving patient cash remedies for wrongful disclosure. I will speak on specific experiences from over 17 years of experience in working as an outsourced compliance auditor, expert witness on HIPAA cases within the hospital setting, ER setting, and thoroughly explain how patients are now able to get cash remedies for wrongful disclosures of private health information. More importantly I will show you how to limit those risks by simply taking proactive steps and utilizing best practices. Why should you Attend: What can and can't we do in the hospital setting with patient information? What are the new liabilities involved? How can we ensure security but also ensure patient care? This once rarely enforced law has changed and you need to know what's going on! - there are new liabilities! What factors might spurn a HIPAA audit? …are you doing these things? Why are the Feds strictly enforcing after all these years? State laws are now much tougher increasing liability for patient remedies! We will be discussing some of the changes taking place in Washington with the Health and Human Services in regards to the enforcement of the HIPAA laws already on the books. I will go over some of the new changes specifically affecting the hospital as well as the emergency room setting I will also be discussing factors might cause an unwanted visit or letter from the Office of Civil Rights and how to prepare for a potential audit Areas Covered in the Sessi

Course "HIPAA - Putting an Organizational Compliance Program in Place" has been pre-approved by RAPS as eligible for up to 12 credits towards a participant's RAC recertification upon full completion Overview: Being in compliance with HIPAA involves not only ensuring you provide the appropriate patient rights and controls on your uses and disclosures of protected health information, but you also have the proper policies and procedures in place. If audited or the subject of a compliance review you will be required to show the government you have all the necessary documentation in place for safeguarding patient Protected Health Information and indicate how you addressed all required security safeguards. This starts with the fundamentals of a HIPAA compliance program. If your healthcare practice, business, or organization needs to understand how to put HIPAA compliance program in place or make sure the current program is adequate and can withstand government scrutiny, please join us for this informative and interactive 2 day training course. Why you should attend With an increase in HIPAA enforcement and Phase 2 audits underway, many organizations need to fully understand the requirements of a compliance program. Attendees will leave the course clearly understanding of all the requirements for a comprehensive HIPAA compliance program and what steps need to be taken to mitigate risk. The seminar will include practical exercise to assist in knowing how to develop, review, and amend HIPAA policy and procedure. After completing this course, a Covered Entity or Business Associate will have a clear roadmap for what needs to be place when it comes to all of the HIPAA regulations. Areas Covered in the Session * Why was HIPAA created? * What is HITECH and the Omnibus Rule? * Who Must Comply with HIPAA Requirements? * What are the HIPAA Security and Privacy Rules? * What is a HIPAA Compliance Program? * What is a HIPAA Risk Management Plan? * What is meant by

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 "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

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

With more than a 100,000 practitioners in this discipline; medical coding is catching up as a viable profession for many in the US and away. Medical coding is emerging as a completely specialized profession in the healthcare sector. This is how the core of their professional work needs to be understood: Uses of medical coding On the face of it, medical coding is used for filing healthcare claims, but the usefulness of this profession goes beyond this. The data churned out by medical coding helps healthcare professionals make more accurate diagnosis and help in enhanced treatment protocols. Ensuring accuracy in medical coding is crucial to administering proper healthcare. Medical coding not only ensures a systematic and standardized manner in which third parties claim payment; the critical data that medical coding generates can be harnessed for further use The information contained in medical coding data in the form of medical codes is a precise indicator of a patient's health history. This information, when refined, helps actuaries take decisions on making investments for their business By feeding policy makers and public health departments with important information on the incidence of diseases, medical coding also fosters proper allocation of resources to the particular segment of the healthcare industry about the kind of services that the community requires at a given point of time. This leads to an improved outlook for the general health of the patient population and reduces wastage of fund allocation. Learn more on this topic by visiting : http://bit.ly/23ajt0v

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

Patient quality and safety in healthcare: Patient quality and safety are core aspects of healthcare. They need to be administered and assessed in the backdrop of a variety of factors. Many healthcare professionals see patient quality and safety in healthcare as being part of the broad canopy of healthcare. There is some disagreement and confusion as to the exact meaning of the terms patient quality and safety, but that is only when it comes to semantics. In broad terms, one can understand patient quality and safety in healthcare as efforts and steps and processes meant to improve the quality care given to patients. Patient quality and safety in healthcare relates chiefly to: Improving the safety of patients and augmenting the quality of health care in the various areas of health Bringing about a reduction in infections that are sometimes a byproduct of provision of health care Reduction in the incidence of adverse drug events Quality healthcare, of which patient quality and safety in healthcare are an integral part, is defined as "…doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right person, and having the best possible result" by The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The AHRQ also describes patient safety as "the act of doing no harm", and which "…underlies all aspects of quality health care." Measuring patient quality and safety: Measuring patient quality and safety in healthcare is of utmost importance because no system or practice is meaningful unless it is capable of being measured. The level and success of patient quality and safety in healthcare is measured against the following parameters: How many patients who underwent surgery experienced infections? How many patients were required to be admitted for a second or subsequent time following discharge from hospital because of complications such as infections or recurrence of the problems for which the patient was admitted? To what extent did the healthcare