Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

• You'd better make sure your HIPAA breach policies and procedures are up to snuff, because you might find yourself in a situation like one Illinois-based hospice.

The hospice organization had to alert patients after a staffer's laptop was stolen during a home visit, reports the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate. The computer had "security measures in place," but held patient information such as names, addresses, social security numbers, insurance information, medications, treatments, and diagnoses.

The hospice notified individuals with information stored on the computer, and offered them 12 months of free identity theft protection services, the newspaper reports. Plus, the hospice and the identity theft protection service Debix have set up a hotline to answer questions about the potential privacy breach.