Tag: HIPAA Risk Assessment

How Can Volunteering Help Your Physicians Recharge?

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Experts have known for a long time that volunteering is a good thing. After all, what could be bad about giving back to the communities around us? However, new research is suggesting that volunteering is also good for your body and mind. Physicians who are looking to recharge and reignite their passion for helping others can benefit from taking time to volunteer.

The Mental Health Benefits

Volunteering has a wonderful effect on mental health. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, much of that stems from social integration theory. Social integration theory is the idea that the social connections between individuals provide meaning and purpose and satisfaction. Individuals who volunteer feel accomplishment from giving back and also gain fulfillment from being in a helpful role. Another study of older adults found that volunteering can buffer the sense of loss that they felt as they lost other identities, like being a wage-earner or parent.

The Physical Health Benefits

One study from Carnegie Mellon University found that adults over the age of 50 who regularly volunteered had a lower likelihood of developing high blood pressure. As most physicians know, high blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke and premature death. While the link between physical health and volunteering might be incidental, it goes to show that doing good can also do your body a whole lot of good.

Why Volunteering for Physicians?

Long days and nights at a medical practice can make it easy to forget why doctors went into medicine in the first place—to help others. If doctors and nurses in your practice need to recharge, volunteering is the perfect way to do so. What are some of the other benefits of volunteering?

  • Increase social interactions with people other than patients and co-workers during the week.
  • Provide a sense of satisfaction and increase self-esteem.
  • Add career experience in other fields to your resume, like public speaking, writing or business development.
  • Stay mentally and physically active outside of work.
  • Enjoy the rush of endorphins and happy feelings associated with volunteering (similar to how you feel after a great workout).

Partner with Vetters Enterprises for Help Taking Your Practice to the Next Level

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

Tips for Surviving a Federal HIPAA Audit

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Being contacted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for a HIPAA audit can be a very scary situation. The best way to survive a federal HIPAA audit is ensuring that you have the proper procedures in place every single day on the job. A single employee who is non-compliant could cost your practice a lot. 

Make Sure It’s Valid

Unfortunately, some scammers try to take advantage of practices by pretending to be OCR representatives conducting an audit and asking practices to purchase “certification” services. OCR and HHS will only make contact with your practice via email or certified letter. You always have a right to respond to ask for proof of validity, and that will not be held against you during the audit process. There is no certifying body for HIPAA compliance in existence, so any organization that approaches you claiming that they are one is lying.

Educate Your Employees

One of the best prevention strategies is educating your employees of the serious consequences of a HIPAA violation.

  • A HIPAA violation that occurs without knowledge: $100-$25,000 violation
  • A HIPAA violation due to reasonable cause: $1,000-$50,000 violation
  • A HIPAA violation due to willful neglect, but fixed within 30 days: $10,000-$50,000 violation
  • A HIPAA violation due to willful neglect that is uncorrected or corrected after 30 days: $50,000 violation

Reminding employees of the steep cost associated with each violation regularly can help to ensure compliance.

Tips for Survival

When preparing for a federal HIPAA audit, ask yourself the following:

  • Are our HIPAA policies and procedures regularly updated and effective? You should have things like a Breach Notification policy on hand and in effect.
  • Is our HIPAA training regularly updated and effective? How do we know it’s working? Every practice is required to hold HIPAA trainings for employees that are up-to-date, as well as maintain detailed records showing when employees attended the training and tests or surveys showing they understood the content.
  • Has our practice completed a risk assessment? This aspect of HIPAA often lies under the radar, but it’s a requirement as part of the HIPAA security management processes.
  • Have we had HIPAA breaches? If you have had a breach, you should make sure that all documentation has been properly completed.

Keep Your Practice HIPAA-Compliant with Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

Message from the CEO of Compliancy Group

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Today I want to talk about the odds of being audited.

It’s been all over the news lately that OCR has finally launched their Phase 2 audit program, ushering in a series of 200 desk and onsite audits that will be completed by the end of the year. If you consider the odds of being randomly selected for one of these Phase 2 audits, you wouldn’t be alone in thinking that the chances are slim. It’s a claim we’ve seen time and again.

But set aside these Phase 2 audits for a moment and consider that two of the largest fines ever–totaling $5.5 million–were levied against North Memorial Health System of Minnesota and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research just a few weeks ago. In each of these cases, an OCR investigation was triggered by a PHI breach. And in each case, OCR discovered a lapse in the organization’s HIPAA compliance which lead to these behemoth fines.

So while the odds of being selected for a Phase 2 audit are relatively slim, the odds of having a breach and triggering OCR investigation are as high as they’ve ever been.

If you need help with your compliance efforts, reach out to VE Cycle Management today.  We can get you on track wth Compliancy Guard, the tool that saves you more than money.

Read on to check out some of the content we’ve put out this month, and some of the free educational webinars we have slated for the weeks ahead. And remember that Compliancy Group is here to give you compliance with confidence.

Marc Haskelson 

President, CEO

The Importance of HIPAA and HITECH Compliance

Posted on by VettersEnt
Meaningful Use

Did you properly attest?

What happens if you falsely Attest to Meaningful Use?

Recently, the former CFO of the Shelby Regional Medical Center, Joe White, has been sentenced to 23 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $4.5 million in restitution.  White oversaw the hospital’s implementation of electronic health records (EHR) and was responsible for Meaningful Use attestation to obtain incentive payments. He pleaded guilty to making a false statement about the hospital’s status as a meaningful user of EHR when, in fact, the hospital failed to meet the requirements. As a consequence of the ensuing turmoil, Shelby Regional Medical Center has permanently closed.

What message does this send?  

Although this is a more severe example of dishonesty, the underlying warning is still there for recipients of Meaningful Use incentives. Falsely attesting or failure to meet requirements could result in civil penalties, refund of incentive money, and could lead to criminal charges.

Does attesting for Meaningful Use mean you’re HIPAA compliant?

Attesting for Meaningful Use does not exempt you from the obligation to comply with HIPAA regulations. Regardless of whether you are applying for Meaningful Use or not, you are still required to be HIPAA compliant. The HITECH Act has served to strengthen HIPAA security and privacy provisions by adding greater fines and penalties for non-compliance. Bottom line, if your services involve Protected Health Information (PHI) you are required to be HIPAA compliant.

 HITECH?

The HITECH Act was established with the intent to promote the adoption of health information technology. This was promoted and incentivized by the Government through the Meaningful Use program. Providers can obtain incentive payments by attesting and proving that they are using certified EHR technology to improve patient care.  

 Do you think you are compliant?

According to HHS, 70% of the healthcare industry is not HIPAA compliant while CMS states that 79% of Meaningful Use Audits have resulted in failure. The two prevalent factors were incomplete risk assessments and misconceptions about the differences between HIPAA and HITECH. If you are unsure of your compliance with HIPAA, HITECH or Meaningful Use you need to take corrective action immediately.

  Become Compliant Now And Protect Your Practice

100% Of Our Clients Have Passed Their Audits

Find out how you can quickly become HIPAA compliant, prove your due diligence, satisfy Meaningful Use, and protect your organization’s reputation from irreparable damage and financial penalties.

Seal of HIPAA Compliance
Why The Guard?
  • HIPAA, HITECH, Meaningful Use, and Omnibus compliance
  • Expert HIPAA Coaches
  • Risk Analysis, Gap Identification and Remediation Plans
  • Built-in Training, Policies & Procedures
  • BA Agreement Templates & Tracking
  • HIPAA Hotline Support
  • Over 1,000 Satisfied CEs & BAs

CoffeeChat #2 Is up on our YouTube Channel

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Take a listen to our latest CoffeeChat https://youtu.be/zMKxGhcfdVY here on our YouTube channel.  This episode talks about how just getting a HIPAA Risk Assessment is not enough to be HIPAA compliant according to HITECH and OMNIBUS regulations.  Use the contact us page to find out how CompliancyGuard can help your practice Achieve, Illustrate and Maintain HIPAA compliance.