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Health Information Compliance Alert

Studies & Surveys:

BANKS BEHIND THE HIPAA CURVE

Published on Mon Apr 01, 2002

A new survey has found that banks servicing health care providers are not prepared to comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's privacy provisions.

Financial institutions can form business associations with covered entities when performing a variety of financial services for those entities.

The study, conducted by the Medical Banking Project, measured the HIPPA preparedness of 18 of the nation's largest commercial banks. Among the survey's most worrying findings:

More than 31 percent of institutions surveyed have not begun internal HIPAA education of affected departments. Nearly 44 percent had begun training, while more than 12% were unsure of the current status of HIPAA training. Only 12 percent had completed HIPAA training in the relevant departments.

Only 5.9 percent of respondents feel they have all the information needed to assess HIPAA's impact on their banking operations. Nearly 53 percent believe they lack the necessary information, while over 17 percent want more guidance on the issue from the Department of Health and Human Services;

More than 56 percent of the banks surveyed are unsure whether HIPAA classifies all, or just a portion, of their payment processing operations as forming a business association with a covered entity;

Over 88 percent have not yet assessed potential HIPAA training programs for staff that served health care organizations;

More than 46 percent of respondents were uncertain whether they would meet HIPAA deadlines.

Other Articles in this issue of

Health Information Compliance Alert

HIPAA Privacy:
SENATE SHOWDOWN FOCUSES ON CONSENT & MARKETING
Wildly differing views on proposed changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's privacy [...]

HIPAA Identifiers:
NATIONAL IDENTIFIERS ON THE WAY BUT WHEN?
Health care providers will soon trade in a tangle of identifying codes for a single [...]

Privacy:
CLASS-ACTION PRIVACY SUIT GETS GO AHEAD
Pharmacy giant CVS Corp. will have to defend itself against a class-action lawsuit that may [...]

HIPAA Transactions:
CMS WEIGHS IN ON MANAGED CARE HIPAA CONCERNS
While the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in its role as a health plan, [...]

HIPAA Transactions:
E-Z EXTENSION
The Department of Health and Human Services has followed through on its promise that it [...]

Business Associates:
PRESSURE DROPS ON CONTRACT COMPLIANCE
Proposed modifications to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's privacy rule look to offer [...]

Business Associates:
MODEL CONTRACTS MORE THAN CUT AND PASTE
Attempting to ease the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act transition, the Department of Health [...]

HIPAA Privacy:
HHS TALLIES THE COST OF CHANGE
The proposed changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy rule will cut [...]

HIPAA Privacy:
AUTHORIZATIONS MADE EASY
Despite scrapping the consent provisions of the HIPAA privacy rule, the Department of Health and [...]

HIPAA Transactions:
CMS SPURS STATES ON EDI COMPLIANCE
Even though there's extra time to get in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and [...]

Studies and Surveys:
AHA TAKES THE PRIVACY PULSE
In a recent survey commissioned by the American Hospital Association, 86 percent of respondents said [...]

Health Care Philanthropy:
HEALTH CARE CHARITIES FEEL PRIVACY PRESSURE
Health care philanthropy groups are pressing the Bush administration to amend a portion of the [...]

HIPAA Privacy:
PROVIDERS CONSIDER PRIVACY CHANGES
Health care providers are weighing in on proposed modifications to the Health Insurance Portability and [...]

Studies & Surveys:
BANKS BEHIND THE HIPAA CURVE
A new survey has found that banks servicing health care providers are not prepared to [...]

State Developments:
STATES HIPAA READINESS
Californias health care providers seem well on their way to meeting the April 2003 Health [...]

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