The Compliance Insider Blog | Healthcare Compliance Pros - Page 68

Idle CDC Worries Experts about the Spread of Flu

The fall flu season in the U.S. is unfolding largely unobserved. TheCDC's labs and surveillance programs are idle, thanks to the government shutdown, and outside experts are worried that essential data is being lost....

HIPAA and the Government Shutdown

At the heart of the federal budget stalemate in Washington is the effort to pull the plug on Obamacare. The resulting partial government shutdown is derailing other important healthcare efforts that not only impact...

Government Shutdown Affecting OSHA

The recent shutdown of the federal government due to legislative battles in the U.S. Congress has led many to wonder about how various agencies will be affected. As a division of the Department of Labor, the...

More HIPAA Audits for 2014

Federal regulators are planning for a permanentHIPAAaudit program that will begin next year. But the audits will be narrower in scope than the 115 in the pilot program during 2012, helping pave the way for a higher...

Healthcare Infections Cost $10 billion a Year

A recent study from researchers at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found that the five most common healthcare related infections costs the U.S. healthcare system almost $10 billion...

At-Will Employment and "For Cause" Statements

It may seem like a good idea to say you will terminate employees only "for cause," particularly if you want to be perceived as acting fairly towards your workers. But, if you do, you could be limiting your ability to...

Providing Electronic Access

HIPAA HITECH and Omnibus have added to the requirement to allow patients to receive a copy of their medical records. In addition to a paper copy, they now have the right to receive an electronic copy if the provider...

Only 5 Days left until HIPAA Omnibus . . . How Many Hours Will Compliance Take?

Healthcare organizations will spend 32.8 million hours complying with the modified HIPAA Omnibus Rule, according to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights. They state that the bulk of...

Preventing Needlesticks Could Save $1B per Year

Despite federal mandates put in place 13 years ago to protect healthcare workers from needlesticks, they are still being stuck at an alarming rate. By some estimates, some 600,000 workers in medical clinics suffer...

Are Your Business Associates ready for the September 23 Deadline?

Last week we asked you if your practice was ready for the September 23 Omnibus enforcement deadline. How about your Business Associates? Are they ready? As the date approaches, an error that many business associates...