Monday, March 19, 2012

THE AUDITORS ARE COMING!! (HIPAA / HITECH series continued)

HHS & the OCR may or may not be gunning for you.  
How prepared are you?
In warning that up to 150 organizations are going to be audited this year, the OCR just fired a big fat warning shot across your bow.

A short summary of the deal is found at their website, as follows:

"... OCR is piloting a program to perform up to 150 audits of covered entities to assess privacy and security compliance.   Audits conducted during the pilot phase will begin November 2011 and conclude by December 2012."

What does this mean for managers, owners, and other leaders at Covered Entities and Business Associates?

Simply enough: the audits are real, the audits are under way, and it would be in your best interest to at least take the whole concept seriously and start the simple, cheap steps to prepare your organization for compliance.

Quick reminder about why you care.....  the law requires from $100 to 1.5 million dollars fines to be levied this year.   Read this summary from the AMA for more details.



So, what do you do to prepare?    What simple steps will go a LONG WAY towards keeping your money in your pockets, and keeping your business in business?

Quite simply, as Turn Key Solutions & Turn Key Health (and a lot of other educated organizations) have been preaching for some time nowSTART WITH A PERIODIC, ANNUAL INTERNAL AUDIT.


A great summary from Chiroeco.com of what needs to happen next is as follows:


1. Get your documentation in place
2. Get your business associate agreements in place
3. Evaluate your compliance (periodic internal audits)
4. Implement a training program
5. Assemble your internal subject matter experts as relates to the HIPAA / HITECH laws
6. Prepare for a timely response 



If you need help with any of these steps, call us at 225-751-4444.    As the Gulf South regions' premier Healthcare Information Technology services team, we're helping clients every day run their practices and their clinics more efficiently, building HIPAA & HITECH compliance into every piece of their business.

And we'll be honored to help you, too.


Find out more about Turn Key Health here: http://www.tkshealth.com

1 comment:

  1. Having a plan for compliance is a must! A good place to start is to review policies and procedures. Professional review of your plan and assistance in implementation is a necessity, and can assure a medical facility is not caught off guard.

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