The Compliance Insider 

Wearing artificial nails in the lab is a bad idea. To allow gloves to fit properly and for good infection control, fingernails should be no longer than 0.25 inches beyond the end of the finger, according to the... Read More

Following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, employers face potential plaint of unlawful discrimination), but also by employees who have a close relationship with whoever engages in protected activity. The... Read More

The following is a template for a Tornado Emergency Plan to implement in your office. Before a tornado: Review your escape plan (in your OSHA setup materials) to learn the route. Locate and/or designate the... Read More

CMS recently announced that the first payments of the Medicare EHR Incentive Program were distributed on May 19. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Medicare EHR Incentive Program provides... Read More

Covered entities (CE) and business associates (BA) finally know the details of the accounting of disclosures provision in HITECH now that the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) released a proposed rule... Read More

On Friday, May 27, 2011, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) published a HITECH-required proposed rule on accounting of disclosures of electronic health records (EHRs). The rule will ultimately lay the... Read More

Many of you have inquired about the following question regarding business associates over the past weeks, so we thought we would review this again. Q: A covered entity encounters difficulty when executing updated... Read More

Q: How often must we replace MSDSs in our MSDS file? A: OSHA requires that employers have a current MSDS for hazardous substances in the workplace. An updated MSDS included with the product can get misplaced,... Read More

Q. We are a referral-based MRI facility. As a standard procedure, we fax MRI reports to referring providers after radiologist review. Patients can schedule follow-up appointments with referring providers to obtain... Read More

We frequently get questions about transporting blood and urine samples. The following will help you understand what is required. Q. Do the samples need to be in a biohazard bag when transported either by... Read More