A Change in Compliance
by AJ Riviezzo
Up to this point, many of us have essentially ignored HIPAA save for the conversations with new employees about protecting Privileged Health Information (PHI). Most of this is due to non-enforcement of all of the other HIPAA requirements. Like everything else in healthcare, that time is now fading into memory.
The HIPAA compliance folks, Health and Human Services (HHS), have been critiqued by their Office of Inspector General for being too lax in performing HIPAA audits. We can expect this to change. Apparently they will be conducting random audits along with investigations into complaints that are brought forward. We are also being told that the monies the audits generate in fines will be rolled back into the HHS audit budget so they can expand the number and scope of audits being performed.
There is quite a list of ongoing compliance activities that HHS will be reviewing. These various processes are not limited to just medical practices but to all organizations that have access to HIPAA related materials. Our company is in the initial steps of performing our own internal audits. We will also be assisting two of our practices with their audits as well to see what is required for a practice to be realistically complaint. As we conduct these reviews, we will be noting what these various activities are and listing some of the concerns and conclusions to you, our readers.
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