2014 - Patient Rights and the HIPAA Privacy Officer - Meeting Patient Desires and Avoiding Penalties

DESCRIPTION
? The HIPAA regulations define the relationship between providers and patients and provide certain rights to patients. Patients hae various rights of access, amendment, restriction of disclosures, accounting of discolosures, limitations on marketing and fundraising, privacy, and security. The rights of individuals and the HIPAA Privacy Officer's obligation to provide those rights wlll be discussed.
? In addition, new changes modifying the HIPAA Regulations have gone into place to meet the requirements within the HIPAA Omnibus Update Rule implementing the HITECH Act in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
? Covered entities that use electronic health records (EHRs) will need to meet new access and disclosure rules. Electronic records have new demands placed on them, in both providing access and in restricting some disclosures of health information ? the electronic age in health care brings new obligations to serve individuals as well as manage health information for healthcare professionals. We will discuss how disclosures must be restricted in an EHR and review the various ways patient records can be supplied electronically.
? If you are required to have a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, you will need to update that to show all the new rights that patients will have, such as electronic copies, new rights to restrict disclosures, and much more.
? The new regulations will be reviewed and their effects on usual practices will be discussed, as will what policies need to be changed and how. We will describe the evidence you must produce if you are audited by the HHS Office of Civil Rights.
? Not only are the compliance rules changed, but the enforcement rules have changed, with a new four-tier violation schedule with increased minimum and maximum 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.
? Whereas the former practice of USDHHS has been to audit compliance only in instances where a violation was reported, the law now requires USDHHS to conduct a regular HIPAA compliance audit program, and a new program will be getting under way in 2014.
? All HIPAA-covered providers need to review their HIPAA compliance, policies, and procedures to see if they are prepared to meet the rules as well as the new changes in the rules. Compliance is required and violations for willful neglect of the rules begin at $10,000.
? With the far-reaching changes in the rules and the new enforcement and penalty levels, it’s never been more important to review your HIPAA compliance and meet the new requirements. "
Why should you attend :
? With the recent changes to HIPAA and increasing focus on patient information, patient rights, and HIPAA enforcement, now is the time for the HIPAA Privacy Officer to review and update their orgainzation's policies and practices and have the documentation necessary to avoid the siginifcant penalties for non-compliance.
? Patients have a number of rights under HIPAA, from rights of access to certain records, to requests for amendment of records the patient feels are incorrect, to requests for additional privacy protections, to requests for accountings of disclosures and restriction of disclosures.
? Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Regulations now in effect call for significant changes to the relationship between health care providers and their patients. Patients have new rights of access to and restrictions on the use of Protected Health Information (PHI) by HIPAA-covered healthcare providers, and those providers also have additional changes to the allowable uses and disclosures of that PHI. The new rules are in effect now.
? Now, individuals have the right to receive electronic copies of any medical records held electronically, and they can ask that certain disclosures not be made to their insurers, a request that must be complied with, no matter how ready your systems are processes are to handle the restriction.
? New regulations around the release of electronic records and the restriction of disclosures are creating new burdens that your EHR and your medical records department must deal with. You will even have to update your HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices to show how you support the new patient rights under HIPAA as amended by HITECH.
? The enforcement rules have changed, with a new four-tier violation schedule with increased minimum and maximum 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.
Areas Covered in the Session:
? The patient rights provided by HIPAA will be explained, and the obligations of the Privacy Officer will be reviewed.
? The new regulations will be reviewed and their effects on usual practices will be discussed, as well as what policies need to be changed and how.
? We will describe what policies and evidence you need to produce if you are audited by the HHS Office of Civil Rights. Now that there is a legislative mandate to audit compliance, and a random audit plan under way, you need to be prepared to respond to audit requests.
? The features that must be available in EHR systems and the questions to ask of system vendors will be described.
? The processes for responding to requests for copies of electronic records and restrictions of disclosures will be related to the regulations that require them.
? Learn how the new regulations change the way individuals have access to their records.
? Find out about how Individuals can now request certain restrictions on disclosures that you must honor.
? Learn about the new requirements for disclosers of health information to apply “minimum necessary” standards.
? Find out about how new limitations on marketing and fund-raising may change how entities can reach out to individuals.
? Learn all about how new audit and penalty requirements increase the need to make sure you are in compliance before HHS OCR knocks on the door.
Who will benefit: (Titles)
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
Webinar Includes:
Q/A Session with the Expert to ask your question
PDF print only copy of PowerPoint slides
90 Minutes Live Presentation
Certificate of Attendance