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Preparing for HIPAA Version 5010
Editor's note: The comments section on this blog have been disabled due to spam attacks. MGMA is working on a solution to this problem and hopes to enable the comment function soon. Thank you for your patience. By Ken Bradley, Vice President of Strateg...read more »
Late for HIPAA 5010 Compliance? There May be Hope
The Jan. 1, 2012, compliance deadline for the HIPAA 5010 transactions is coming fast but there’s still a lot of work that can be done during the next few months, says Rob Tennant, senior policy advisor for government affairs at the Medical Group Management Association. At a session during the MGMA 2011 Annual Conference, Oct....read more »
Are you prepared for the HIPAA 5010 conversion?
On January 1, 2012, providers must change to a new standard format for submitting electronic claims information or face potential delays in reimbursement. However, nearly half of all practices haven’t even begun implementation, according to a recent MGMA member survey. The switch from the current 4010A1 format to the new 5010 format requires substantial changes...read more »
HHS’ Annual Report on HIPAA Compliance Reveals Top Issues for Investigation
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has submitted a report (pdf) to Congress on HIPAA compliance that reveals the most common privacy compliance issue investigated from April 2003-Dec. 2010 was impermissible uses and disclosures of protected health information. The “Annual Report to Congress on HIPAA Privacy Rule and Security...read more »
Automated HIPAA Compliance Management
With a growing reliance on information technology in the Healthcare Industry and the adoption of electronic medical records (EMR), it is crucial to ensure the safe handling of sensitive data. Additionally, the passage of the HITECH Act (part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) has increased the criminal penalties associated with...read more »
Privacy, security not as high-priority as meeting meaningful use
Eighty percent of respondents to a March 2011 Healthcare IT News survey of hospital and health system IT professionals cited compliance as the highest expectation of achieving meaningful use. Only 38 percent, however, are in the process of enterprise-w...read more »
Value of voice recognition technology for EHRs growing
Are voice recognition systems growing out of their infancy? That's the suggestion made by Dr. Eric Fishman, writing a post for Medscape Business of Medicine. Fishman suggests that while not perfect, voice recognition software solves many of t...read more »
EMRs Lead to Better Quality of Care
Government incentives for electronic medical record adoption could pay off in improved quality of care, according to a new study which found that patients in physician practices that used EMRs got better care and had better outcomes than those in physician practices that used paper records. The study, published in the New England Journal of...read more »
Time to Make Data Breaches a Thing of the Past
The media is abuzz with news of data breaches especially with websites like the Health and Human Services (HHS) tracking them. As per the Office of Civil Rights, there were close to 9,109 data breaches by Sept 2010, averaging 25 data b...read more »
5010, ICD-10: Establishing Industry Glidepaths
As we head toward the last few months until the 5010 deadline, let’s think about how similar industry requirements in the future could be structured to make their adoption more successful. Regulations that require software changes for thousands of interconnected healthcare entities should be structured to include firm, realistic “glidepath” stages. This will reduce confusion and...read more »