A failure to understand HIPAA requirements can be a very costly mistake, as CardioNet learned just a couple months ago. In April, the wireless health services provider agreed to a settlement of $2.5 million for a potential noncompliance with the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. (1) The violation occurred when a company laptop containing the...
Compliance and ethics are not just legal requirements in healthcare; they are also critical components to safe, quality patient care. Regardless, the size or specialty of the practice or facility, all medical organizations face healthcare compliance concerns. What is healthcare compliance? Healthcare compliance is the continuous process of abiding by legal, ethical, and professional standards...
Medical errors are now the third highest cause of death, accounting for more than 250,000 deaths per year in the US. (1) Second only to heart disease and cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (3) Many believe this estimate is too low and the true number of deaths is around...
Recently the world’s largest cyber-attack unleashed its havoc across 150 countries crippling more than 300,000 victims and hundreds of organizations worldwide. Hospitals, universities, government offices, and large business were among those affected, including sixteen NHS hospitals in the UK. Many of them had to cancel surgeries, appointments, and send patients elsewhere due to the fallout....
Despite the change in administration, experts say The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is here to stay and it’s full speed ahead. The MACRA law replaces the previous fee-for-service Medicare payment structure with a value-based pay-for-performance program built on measures of quality and efficiency. The legislation affects all healthcare providers that care for...
Healthcare data breaches are costing the U.S. healthcare industry nearly $6.2 billion each year. (2) In fact, healthcare has the highest cost per breached record of any other industry. Why? Healthcare is extremely attractive to hackers because medical records include everything they need such as: names, Social Security numbers, date of birth, credit card information,...
Transparency is considered an essential element to improving the quality of health care. Without transparency, patients cannot make informed decisions. Without transparency, it is not possible to have a culture of safety. What is transparency? Transparency is defined as the free and uninhibited flow of information that is open to the scrutiny of others. (2)...
Last month, Memorial Healthcare System (MHS) agreed to implement a comprehensive corrective action plan and pay a 5.5-million-dollar settlement for the breach of protected health information (PHI) that affected over 100,000 individuals. This is the second largest fine against a covered entity to date, sending a strong message that audit controls will be a key...
In August, Advocate Health Care Network agreed to pay a $5.55 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR), for multiple HIPAA violations. In addition, HHS also recently announced a $650,000 resolution settlement against the Catholic Health Care Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. These multi-million dollar...
To prevent work-related injuries and illness, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires employers to record work-related injuries and illnesses in an “OSHA log.” OSHA is now issuing a new rule which requires certain employers to submit injury and illness data electronically, effective January 1, 2017. What does the final rule do? The new rule...
