Tom Sullivan
Whether the compliance deadline delay announced last February by the Department of Health and Human Services stalled progress on ICD-10, or provided an opportunity to hone implementation timelines, all depends on where a particular healthcare organization was prior to that announcement.
In the GOP response to President Obama's State of the Union address, Fla. Senator Marco Rubio says he wouldn't change Medicare in a way that harms seniors but not altering the program will ultimately bankrupt it.
Responding to a challenge from the department Secretaries, the DoD and VA outline tweaks to their iEHR strategy that intend to advance exchange and interoperability by early next year.
Janet Hofmeister discusses Florida HIE's strategy for financial sustainability, challenges, and keeping up with the rules and regulations.
The omnibus HIPAA Privacy and Security final rule released by HHS on Jan. 17 answered some questions, provided necessary guidance in certain areas -- but some of the thorniest issues, data breach notification among those, are still cryptic enough that lawyers and privacy officers will still face difficult judgment calls every time a laptop is lost or stolen.
Despite offering certain clarifications, the final rule on HIPAA privacy and security leaves some areas open to interpretation, data breach notification among those.
Rule no longer about proving harm but, instead, places burden on covered entities to prove that improperly disclosed information has not been compromised.
The most eagerly awaited -- if not anxiety-laden -- set of regulations in the healthcare spectrum arrived January 17: HHS issued modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement and Breach Notification Rules. The man charged with enforcing the rules said they represent "sweeping changes."
The document is nearly 600 pages, but early on HHS explains that there are four rules within the omnibus final HIPAA Privacy and Security rule. Here they are, straight from the source.
There are well-known ways that thieves make use of medical data and then there are some surprises, such as marketing ploys.