HIPAA and Patient Access to Records - New Focus for Audits and Enforcements

Why Should You Attend:

Changes modifying the HIPAA Privacy and Security Regulations have gone into place to meet the privacy and security mandates within the HITECH Act in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, as implemented in the HIPAA Omnibus Update rule published January 25, 2013, and the recent changes to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA). Covered entities, and particularly those that use electronic health records (EHRs), will need to meet the new access and disclosure rules. And if you are required to have a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, you need to update that to show all the new rights that patients have.

Medical laboratories are now required to provide individual access to test records, and will need to have processes to authenticate those who request information and the means to ensure that the correct results are provided to authenticated individuals.

HHS has recently issued new guidance on issues relating to access of mental health records and the records of minors, clarifying what information may be provided or not, depending on the information and other circumstances. The guidance also includes information on dealing with law enforcement requests for information on alleged violators of the law.

This training program will review new regulations and their effects on usual practices will be discussed, as will what policies need to be changed and how. The presenter will highlight what policies and evidence you may need to produce if you are audited by the HHS Office of Civil Rights, which has already indicated that compliance with the rules on patient access of records is a significant problem that is likely to be a focus of the new HIPAA Audits in 2015.

Apart from changes in compliance rules, enforcement rules too have been updated, with a new four-tier violation schedule with increased fines, and mandatory fines for willful neglect of compliance that start at $10,000 even if the problem is corrected within 30 days of discovery. Violations that are not promptly corrected carry mandatory minimum fines starting at $50,000 and can reach $1.5 million for any particular violation. And any reports of willful neglect are required to be investigated under the law. Even violations for a reasonable cause or with reasonable diligence taken are subject to penalty. This course will discuss what is necessary to avoid penalties and make sound compliance decisions.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• Learn about the new access rights under HIPAA and CLIA regulations.
• Learn about the guidance from HHS regarding access of mental health information and minors' information.
• Find out what the regulations call for and what processes you must have in place for the proper approval and denial of access as appropriate.
• Learn about the required process for the review of certain denials of access.
• Learn how e-mail and texting should be handled, what can go wrong, and what can result when it does.
• Find out about HIPAA requirements for access and patient preferences, as well as the requirements to protect PHI.
• Learn about the training and education that must take place to ensure your staff handles access requests properly.
• Learn about how the HIPAA audit and enforcement activities are now being increased and what you need to do to survive a HIPAA audit.

Who Will Benefit:

This webinar will provide valuable assistance to all personnel in medical offices, practice groups, hospitals, academic medical centers, insurers, business associates (shredding, data storage, systems vendors, billing services, etc.). The titles are:

• Compliance Director
• CEO
• CFO
• Privacy Officer
• Security Officer
• Information Systems Manager
• HIPAA Officer
• Chief Information Officer
• Health Information Manager
• Healthcare Counsel/lawyer
• Office Manager
• Contracts Manager

Instructor Profile:

Jim Sheldon-Dean is the founder and director of compliance services at Lewis Creek Systems, LLC, a Vermont-based consulting firm founded in 1982, providing information privacy and security regulatory compliance services to a wide variety of health care entities. He is a frequent speaker regarding HIPAA, including speaking engagements at numerous regional and national healthcare association conferences and conventions and the annual NIST/OCR HIPAA Security Conference. Mr. Sheldon-Dean has more than 30 years of experience in policy analysis and implementation, business process analysis, information systems and software development, and eight years of experience doing hands-on medical work as a Vermont certified volunteer emergency medical technician. He received his B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Vermont and his master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Topic Background:

Jim Sheldon-Dean is the founder and director of compliance services at Lewis Creek Systems, LLC, a Vermont-based consulting firm founded in 1982, providing information privacy and security regulatory compliance services to a wide variety of health care entities. He is a frequent speaker regarding HIPAA, including speaking engagements at numerous regional and national healthcare association conferences and conventions and the annual NIST/OCR HIPAA Security Conference. Mr. Sheldon-Dean has more than 30 years of experience in policy analysis and implementation, business process analysis, information systems and software development, and eight years of experience doing hands-on medical work as a Vermont certified volunteer emergency medical technician. He received his B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Vermont and his master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Patients also now have new rights under HIPAA and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to directly access test results from the laboratories creating the data. Many labs that did not deal directly with patients before will now have to create patient-facing operations, and how they communicate sensitive results to patients will need to be considered. These changes must be respected by entities subject to the HIPAA rules through modifications to policies and notices, and training of staff to reflect the new requirements.

Patients also now have new rights under HIPAA and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to directly access test results from the laboratories creating the data. Many labs that did not deal directly with patients before will now have to create patient-facing operations, and how they communicate sensitive results to patients will need to be considered. These changes must be respected by entities subject to the HIPAA rules through modifications to policies and notices, and training of staff to reflect the new requirements.

Perhaps most importantly, the HIPAA Audits of 2012 revealed that providing the proper patient access to information is a significant compliance problem, and the new HIPAA Audit program by HHS is expected to include reviews of patient access policies and practices. It is expected that HHS will be focusing on current access issues, having to do with the costs to individuals for access of records and the proper handling of denials of access.

All HIPAA-covered providers need to review their HIPAA compliance, policies, and procedures to see if they are prepared to be in full compliance and meet the requirements of the changes in the rules. Compliance is required and violations for willful neglect of the rules begin at $10,000.

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