The Compliance Insider Blog | Healthcare Compliance Pros - Page 84

Entitlement of Records

Q: When is Adult Protective Services (APS) entitled to copies of a patient's medical record without a signed authorization? An adult patient was transferred from a hospital to our skilled nursing facility for...

HHS Announced Delay of ICD-10

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Announced Today the Delay of ICD-10 until October 1, 2014 Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced in a new press release a proposed rule that would delay the compliance date for...

Requirements for Notification

This question was recently submitted by a client, but this situation could be encountered by any practice: Q. What constitutes a privacy breach that requires notification to patients? Recently, a thief...

Proposed New I-9 Form

On March 27, 2012, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services published a notice of proposed revision to the Form I-9 in the Federal Register. Most notably, the proposed form is two pages rather than one page, and...

HIPAA Pitfalls at Physicians Practices

The following is a list of common HIPAA violations seen regularly in physician offices. Check your practice against this list to see if your staff commits the same common violations, and if so, address these...

Care and Handling of Fire Extinguishers

During recent OSHA inspections, violations involving fire extinguishers have become more common. OSHA routinely evaluates the presence, placement, use, maintenance, and testing of fire extinguishers. These...

Time is Almost Up

It's begun; a sudden, nationwide revalidation effort that's hitting you off the normal cycle. CMS is kicking into high gear. The initial waves of revalidation notices have hit a total of 126,184 providers nationwide...

Security Breaches of PHI

We have received numerous questions regarding how to handle a breach of protected health information. This article is a reminder of what you should do. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released...

CMS Announces Another Extension of HIPAA 5010 Deadline

CMS announced on March 15 that it would once again postpone the enforcement of HIPAA 5010 for three months. CMS initially called for enforcement by the start of 2012 but delayed it until March. The most recent...

Storing Specimens with Medications

The following is an important reminder for your employees: Q: We are aware that specimens cannot be stored with food, but is it okay to store blood, urine, and other specimens in the same refrigerator and/or...