An HNA interview with Michael Manere, founder and VP of Total Compliance Solutions

 To provide it’s members with the latest information on compliance in the medical practice, HNA interviewed known compliance expert, Michael Manere, VP and founder of Total Compliance Solutions, Inc. Mr. Manere has been at the forefront of the movement to outsource physician’s office regulatory compliance. Read the rest of this entry »

A quick update on the type of things that the OIG is going after that are very easy for your office fall victim to.  Do not let these violations happen to you!

The OIG alleged that a former physician failed to follow policies and procedures for claims submitted to Medicare and Medicaid for services provided by Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellows under her supervision.  Specifically, the physician employee occasionally instructed Fellows to use pre-printed forms indicating that she accompanied the Fellows during patient visits.  The physician employee used these forms at times when she was present during patient visits, as well as at times when she was not present.

Read the rest of this entry »

In August the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed new regulations for defining and reporting security breaches of patient information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).  The new regulations are specifically tied to requirements in the section of the Stimulus Bill known as the HITECH Act, that provide for the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs).  The new HIPAA regulations went into effect on September 23rd.

Under new regulations, if patient information is stolen, or otherwise compromised, practices must notify the affected patients and, in some cases, th U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the local media.  The regulations are tied to the extent of the breach, with different notification requirements if the problem involves more than, or less than 500 patients.

So what does all of this mean to your practice?
“This will be a tremendous burden to small practices,” says attorney Ed Gaines, chief compliance officer of Medical Management Professionals, Inc. in Greensboro, North Carolina.  “The individual medical practices are going to have to be very careful in understanding and analyzing who has what on their computers.”

As part of the new regulations, practices that can prove that they have proper security measures in place, that prevent breaches by using a number of specified ways, including encryption and destruction techniques -are exempt from the regulations. So if you are not currently using an EHR solution that provides such protection of your patient’s data, now is a good time to start thinking about implementing one.

While the new rules took effect in September, enforcement won’t begin until February 22, 2010.  The complete text and more information about the regulations can be found at:   http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/