The Compliance Insider 

HIPAA requires that covered entities have in place "appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards" for protected health information (PHI). The Privacy Rule, which also extends to non-electronic... Continue Reading

Scenario: For financial reasons, your practice has decided to implement a reduction in force, and affected employees need to be told that they are being laid off. What do you do now? The single most important... Continue Reading

The Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that a Las Vegas woman recently pleads guilty to falsely representing to Medicare that she owned a Los Angeles-area durable medical... Continue Reading

Do you know whether it is against OSHA regulations to have a sprayer on a soiled utility sink used for patient care equipment? Under OSHA, there is no specific prohibition against having a sprayer on a... Continue Reading

We have received some recent inquiries from offices regarding the following question: Is it a HIPAA violation that needs to be reported when the wrong doctor receives a patient's test results? (For example,... Continue Reading

The Department of Health & Human Services recently pushed forward a HITECH-required proposed rule on accounting of disclosures of EHRs. The rule will lay the foundation for what healthcare providers will be... Continue Reading

Each year the Medicare program makes billions of dollars in estimated improper payments. CMS employs several types of Review Contractors to measure, prevent, identify, and correct these improper... Continue Reading

Many have asked lately, the following question: What is your recommendation for dealing with medical records contaminated with dried blood? Under OSHA, you first want to determine whether there is a work... Continue Reading

The HITECH Act modifies the HIPAA Privacy Rule requirement so that covered entities will be complying if the PHI access, use, and disclosure are limited to either the minimum necessary or a "limited data set." The... Continue Reading

Are you remembering to account for the disclosures of PHI? Some healthcare providers are not compliant with this part of the Privacy Rule. Under HIPAA Privacy and as outlined on the NPP, the patient has many... Continue Reading