Health Information Compliance Alert

• The Department of Health and Human Services is making grant ops more Web-friendly. It recently launched a 'Recovery Act' feature on the Grants.gov homepage to help users find and apply for The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant opportunities.

Grants.gov contains information about finding and applying for all federal grant programs. The new feature will direct users to Recovery Act opportunities, other Recovery Act resources, upcoming Webinars, and other links.

HHS will host a Webinar series on behalf of Grants.gov on Aug. 13, 18, and 20 that is targeted towards potential grant applicants.

• Patients and caregivers may find a new Medicare resource useful. Ask Medicare, the e-newsletter for caregivers, is gaining a lot of positive feedback.

The Web site helps beneficiaries' caregivers make sense of the ins and outs of the Medicare system and is part of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' 'My Health My Medicare' campaign.

Through this campaign, CMS says, it can help people with Medicare understand and evaluate their health and prescription drug coverage and motivate them to take advantage of all Medicare has to offer.

The site is online at www.cms.hhs.gov/MyHealthMyMedicare/10_AskMedicare.asp.

• Healthcare providers have a new sheriff in town for HIPAA enforcement. The Department of Health and Human Services is handing over the administration and enforcement of the Security Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 to the HHS Office for Civil Rights.

CMS formerly oversaw enforcement of the rule. The Security Rule specifies a series of administrative, technical, and physical security procedures for covered entities to use to assure the confidentiality of electronic-protected health information.

• Don't waste time and resources sending in extra documentation if you're appealing a claim determination on an additional development request (ADR) from MAC National Government Services (NGS).

"Providers are no longer required to send copies of the initial documentation submitted in response to an ... ADR for medical review," NGS says on its Web site.

"These initial records become part of the provider's appeal file, which will be available for subsequent levels of appeal." But you should submit any omitted documentation, additional documentation to support the service billed, and supporting statements, NGS recommends. You'll also need the correct appeal form.