Home Health & Hospice Week
Provider Pays $1.5M HIPAA Fine Over Laptop
Remember, criminals don't have to actually use your patients' private health information for you to rack up major HIPAA breach fines. Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Associates Inc. (MEEI) has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services $1.5 million to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Security Rule, HHS says in a release. MEEI had earlier reported the theft of an unencrypted personal laptop containing the electronic protected health information (ePHI), including prescriptions and clinical information, of MEEI patients and research subjects. "Necessary steps to comply with certain requirements of the Security Rule, such as conducting a thorough analysis of the risk to the confidentiality of ePHI maintained on portable devices, implementing security measures sufficient to ensure the confidentiality of ePHI that MEEI created, maintained, and transmitted using portable devices," were not taken by MEEI according to the HHS Office for Civil Rights investigation. MEEI "also agreed to take corrective action to improve policies and procedures to safeguard the privacy and security of its patients' protected health information," the release adds.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Fraud & Abuse:
More Providers' Payments Suspended For Fraud Charges
Will your billing pattern put you on the target list for suspension?Medicare home care fraud [...] - Enforcement:
Feds Indict Fraudsters In Hot Spots Nationwide
HHAs with patients from indicted doc see no suspensions -- yet.Legitimate home care providers are paying [...] - Know Your Facts:
These Stats Keep You On Investigators' Radar
Number of HHA subjects investigated skyrocketed 125 percent in five years.Federal investigators are using statistics [...] - HIPAA:
Even CMS Accidentally Breaches Patient Privacy Sometimes
OIG investigates CMS's ability -- or lack of -- to keep benes' PHI private.Maintaining the privacy of [...] - Patient Privacy:
Follow These 6 Tips To Sidestep HIPAA Notice Costs
Avoid spending thousands to clean up HIPAA compliance issues.How would your home care agency handle [...] - Industry Note:
Here's Another Reminder To Check The OIG Exclusion List
Kansas provider pays up for employing excluded individual.You should have lots of good reasons for [...] - Industry Note:
MAC Shoots Down Common F2F Documentation Phrase
Think your docs' face-to-face documentation can slide by with a simple statement, "taxing effort," for [...] - Industry Note:
Provider Pays $1.5M HIPAA Fine Over Laptop
Remember, criminals don't have to actually use your patients' private health information for you to [...] - Industry Note:
CMS Ups Readmission Penalties For 1,420 Hospitals
Hospitals that refer patients to you now might have an even more compelling reason to [...] - Industry Note:
Tap New OASIS Training
Check out new OASIS-C training modules at http://surveyortraining.cms.hhs.gov/pubs/ProviderTraining.aspx. The new sessions join existing courses [...] - Industry Note:
60-Day Notice For PECOS Edits Stands
Physician PECOS edits may be coming your way soon, but CMS still will give you [...] - Industry Note:
Don't Let Venipuncture Confusion Trip Up Coverage
You need to know your coverage ins and outs to figure out whether your patient's [...] - Industry Note:
Stick To ADR Deadlines
If you dawdle on responding to ADRs, you're putting your own cash flow at risk. [...] - Industry Note:
Chain Pares MCO Biz
Home care chain Amedisys Inc. has changed its service agreement with Humana Inc. The change [...] - Industry Note:
Pneumococcal Vaccine May Get More Effective For Elderly
Your patients may receive better protection against pneumonia in the future, depending on the outcome [...]
