Grantees of HIE Funds Get “PIN-ned” on Privacy, Security and Patient Consent On March 22, 2012 HHS/ONC released a new Program Information Notice (PIN) called the “Privacy and Security Framework Requirements and Guidance for State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program” (P&S...
As many of our readers have already heard, on March 13, 2012 HHS announced that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee entered into a Resolution Agreement for $1.5 Million Dollars to settle potential violations of HIPAA. You can access a copy of the Resolution Agreement here. I find this new case...
Feb 29th is Last Day to Report Breaches of <500 to HHS! For those that have been logging their “small” Breaches (i.e., less than 500 individuals affected) and waiting to report them to HHS at the end of the year, next Wednesday, February 29th is the LAST day to get your information entered into...
When DHHS published its Proposed ACO Rule in April 2011 and then the Final ACO Rule in November 2011 (I’ll refer to them as the “ACO Rules”), discussions focused predominately on issues such as who is “qualified” to participate, what the required governance structure should be, what methodology will be used to assign Medicare beneficiaries, and what the payment models will be. However, as I digested the ACO Rules, my reading deliberately slowed down as I zeroed in on the not unremarkable language and comments CMS included with regard to sharing individually identifiable health information in the ACO context.
Helen Oscislawski Invited to Speak at National HIPAA Summit I attend the annual National HIPAA Summit in Washington D.C. every year to keep on top of developments with HIPAA and related topics, and so I was thrilled to find out that one of the Co-Chairs of the ONC Privacy and Security Tiger Team...
Federal Government Releases Updated DURSA for NHIN Participants An Amended and Restated DURSA dated May 3, 2011 was released November 30, 2011. The DURSA is an acronym for the “Data Use and Reciprocal Support Agreement.” It is a comprehensive agreement to govern the exchange of health...
HIPAA Audits Begin November 2011, How Can Covered Entities and Business Associates Prepare? The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that it will begin HIPAA audits of covered entities and business associates this November 2011, and its contracted...
This article discusses generally certain legal and other challenges that networked HIE presents, as well as the effort of one HIE initiative that is looking to implement a technical solution to “segment” sensitive data and place it behind additional technological safeguards.
SAMHSA Awards IT Grants for Behavioral Health The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced last week that it will award up to $13.2 million in health information technology (HIT) grants for mental and behavioral health care settings. These grants...
ONC’s Model PHR Notice Now Available to Vendors Following the release of its Federal Health IT Strategic Plan, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) has made available a Personal Health Record (PHR) Model Privacy Notice for PHR vendors to use in communicating their data practices...
ONC Releases Ambitious Health IT Strategic Plan The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) released its Federal Health Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan this September, detailing its goals and strategies for transforming health care through health IT over the next five...
Helen to Speak on Solving Privacy Dilemmas with Health Information Exchange at national Health Care Info Privacy Forum To Register, click here.
New Hampshire HIO Hits the Ground Running After years of collaboration and planning, New Hampshire has announced the launch of its Health Information Organization, the NH-HIO, developed with the help of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services Office of Health...
Uncertainty in Federal Budget Prompts Kansas to Return .5M Early Innovator Grant On Tuesday, August 9th, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback announced that Kansas would be returning $31.5M in federal grant money awarded to it from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). There is...
HITPC Releases Tiger Team EHR Amendment/Correction Recommendations The ONC Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC) released the Privacy & Security Tiger Team (Tiger Team) recommendations concerning amendments and corrections to electronic medical records (EMRs) in a...