[ Tuesday, April 29, 2003 ]
The South Carolina case challenging HIPAA has made it to the Federal Circuit court, and has been found
constitutional. There is still the Texas case (the Federal District court upheld HIPAA there too, but it's on appeal to the 5th circuit), as well as the case filed a few weeks ago, on the eve of the Privacy Rule's effective date, where the plaintiffs basically wanted to repeal the revisions to the Privacy Rule that took away the consent requirement.
Jeff [10:53 AM]
[ Tuesday, April 22, 2003 ]
I have been informed that House Bill 330 has been passed by both houses of the Texas legislature and now awaits the governor's signature (very likely) or veto (unlikely). This bill deletes portions of the Texas state HIPAA statute that (i) required all entities that regularly deal in medical information to comply with HIPAA (regardless of whether they are "covered entities" as defined in HIPAA and (ii) set out the rules to protect health information that is being used in research. Those were the guts of the Texas HIPAA statute; most of what's left involves authorizing disclosures to public agencies and restrictions on marketing (these are actually tighter than the HIPAA restrictions).
Jeff [3:28 PM]
Here's an interesting diversion. Which
Monty Python and the Holy Grail character are you?
Jeff [10:00 AM]
[ Monday, April 21, 2003 ]
On a more positive note, WEDI and The Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare have established this cooperative
website to help plans and providers coordinate their migration to the new electronic billing and payment standards. It includes templates and other tools to help plans and providers communicate in order to help the transition. Remember, you should be testing already, and have less than six months to switch to the X12 standards.
Jeff [9:21 AM]
Here's something a little, um, off the fringe from the
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. They support Ron Paul's bill to revoke HIPAA and encourage patients to deliver to their doctors a
statement they call a "patient request for non-disclosure of medical records" where the patient invokes his constitutional right to privacy and forbids the physician from releasing medical records to anyone without express consent. They even want to post
newspaper ads encouraging individuals to pressure their doctors to "escape HIPAA and refuse to participate."
As I've stated, the best way to ensure that good care is delivered is to make sure there is free and unfettered distribution of information. That, of course, runs headlong into privacy concerns, which seek the total restriction on the distribution of the same information. How do you balance these two? If you want total privacy, then you will not get good care. If your physician cannot release your records to another physician or caregiver (which he would do if he were to discuss your health status with someone else), you will limit the care you get by preventing your doctor from leveraging his knowledge against the knowledge of others.
Jeff [9:12 AM]
[ Wednesday, April 16, 2003 ]
Here's a useful fact sheet from HIPAAdvisory on what the Privacy Rule really means. Pretty level-headed. Somebody from the Dallas NBC affialiate should check this out.
Jeff [12:21 PM]
Here is an interesting release from the Centers for Disease Control outlining how HIPAA impacts them. They're trying to clarify how the Privacy Rule is impacted by their need and desire to pursue public health issues. Keep in mind the basic HIPAA rule that disclosures required by law do not need an authorization, and should be addressed in your NoPP.
Jeff [12:19 PM]
Congratulations are in order for Karen and Ben Pyatt: last week, they welcomed Christian Paul Pyatt into the world. Living proof of
this theory.
Of course, this is an unauthorized disclosure of PHI. But any of you who've been trying to contact Karen only to get me doing your HIPAA work, now you know why.
Jeff [9:38 AM]
News flash from the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: HIPAA spawns paperwork and confusion. Film at 11.
Also, news from
Corpus Christi, Texas.
Jeff [8:51 AM]
Hoo-ah! You should all be happy to know that the Department of Defense has
announced that it is fully compliant with HIPAA.
Also,
here is the DoD Health Information Privacy Regulation. And
here is the Tricare HIPAA page (Tricare is the contractor that handles the department of defense healthcare operations).
Now drop and give me 20, maggot!
Jeff [8:32 AM]
[ Tuesday, April 15, 2003 ]
HIPAA haiku:
From the HR department at the Texas Teachers Retirement System:
Deadline comes swiftly.
Non-compliant? No mercy.
PHI sacred.
Jeff [4:54 PM]
The OCR has its first installment of the interim final rule on
enforcement, to be forthwith known as "the Enforcement Rule." It has the procedural requirements for investigating complaints and levying fines. OIG "intends to seek and promote voluntary compliance with the rules," which jibes with what they've been telling us so far. Basically, OCR will investigate, which may include subpoenaing information and testimony, and will propose punishment or corrective action. Only covered entities may be fined. Once the punishment is determined, the covered entity has the right to a hearing before an administrative law judge. The ALJ decides the case, which can be appealed to the Departmental Appeals Board.
Jeff [2:53 PM]
We've been discussing e-mail a lot recently. When can you encrypt, when must you encrypt, are you responsible if someone sends you something unencrypted, do you need confidentiality statements on your e-mails, questions like that. There is a group that is putting together programs, geared primarily toward doctors, helping them figure out ways to use e-mail in a secure, protected fashion. The project is called
HealthyEmail, but I don't know what their pricing structure is.
Check it out if you're interested in e-mails.
Jeff [2:32 PM]
The Association of American Medical Colleges is establishing a
survey project to monitor and document the effects HIPAA is having on academic medical research. This will be useful in determining if HIPAA really hinders research, how it hinders it, and what types of policy initiatives could fix those problems. Keep in mind the rule that HIPAA is an object lesson in the law of unintended consequences; the results of the AAMC project will be very interesting.
Jeff [9:45 AM]
There are other HIPAA news stories
here,
here,
here,
here, and
here.
Jeff [8:47 AM]
Here's an
article on how employers are reacting. Businesses that have employee benefit plans including health benefits, such as self-funded insurance plans, are impacted by HIPAA as well.
Jeff [8:39 AM]
I don't think I mentioned it earlier in the crush of news on Friday, but a group of privacy advocates and healthcare professionals have
filed a lawsuit in Philadelphia to stop implementation of the Privacy Rule. Their rationale? The rule allows people to see your health information without your consent. In other words, the rule is not restrictive enough.
Jeff [8:37 AM]
For its part, OCR has published a
Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Looks like another pretty good resource.
Jeff [8:29 AM]
CMS has published a
Fact Sheet on how to file a health information privacy complaint with the Office for Civil Rights.
Jeff [8:27 AM]
[ Monday, April 14, 2003 ]
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores hired the Mintz Levin law firm to do a
HIPAA Preemption Analysis of State Privacy Laws. Very nice resource to know about.
Jeff [2:16 PM]
In case you were wondering, the Canadian men and American women won the
2003 World Curling Championships.
Jeff [12:51 PM]
Today's
New York Times story on HIPAA.
Jeff [11:03 AM]
Seems like something is going in today.
I can't remember, but there's something up in the HIPAA world.
Jeff [10:33 AM]
[ Friday, April 11, 2003 ]
And
here's what Tommy Thompson had to say today about the impending "new era" dawning on Monday.
Jeff [5:35 PM]
Here's some interesting
information from the CDC on how HIPAA impacts public health reporting. There was some discussion of how HIPAA would impact reporting on things like SARS. As you might expect if you've been following HIPAA much, there's too much disinformation out there. Reporting required items to the CDC is not just a good idea, it's the law. And it's OK under HIPAA.
Jeff [5:31 PM]
A group of privacy advocates has just filed a
court case seeking to stop implementation of the Privacy provisions of HIPAA. They complain that HIPAA is unconstitutional because it eliminates the right to privacy of one's medical records. Hmmm, I thought HIPAA was all about
securing privacy. What do I know?
Also, that stupid "STOHP" act has been
filed (re-filed?). Congressmen Waxman and Dingell want to restore the consent requirement that HHS wisely removed from the privacy regulations back in 2002. As you might recall, the consent requirement would prevent a specialist from reviewing a patient chart, and would prevent a pharmacist from filling a prescription, until the patient actually showed up at the office or pharmacy and signed a consent form.
Jeff [5:28 PM]
[ Thursday, April 10, 2003 ]
More HIPAA in the news (this time it's local):
I was watching the 10pm local news on the Dallas NBC affiliate a few minutes ago and they did a presentation on HIPAA. Featured prominently was a local Ft. Worth pharmacy, and the reporter telling the viewers that patients will not be allowed to send family members to pick up prescriptions. You also will not be able to find out if your husband or wife is in the hospital, and flowers will not be delivered to the patient rooms unless the patient has given written authorization.
Sheesh.
Jeff [10:59 PM]
[ Tuesday, April 08, 2003 ]
More HIPAA in the news:
Here,
here, and
here.
Jeff [8:43 AM]
[ Monday, April 07, 2003 ]
Many have asked:
I know, you are probably thinking to yourself, "April's here, and of course that means sports. Sure the Final Four is here (and the Frozen Four if you're a college hockey fan), NBA and NHL playoffs are about to start, and a new baseball season is upon us, but what April really means is . . . .
Curling. You can catch the world championships of "shuffleboard on ice" on the web. Of course, last year and during the olympics, you could get a webcast in real time of every game, but this year we have to rely on some hard-core curling fans to keep us updated.
So, crack open a Molsen and go slide some rocks, eh.
Jeff [10:03 AM]
More news:
This from the Nashua (NH) Telegraph:
Hospitals prepare for new privacy law.
Jeff [9:58 AM]
The Deadline Looms:
Expect to see quite a few stories like
this New York Times piece on the coming impact of HIPAA (free registration required).
Jeff [9:45 AM]
[ Thursday, April 03, 2003 ]
Here's an interesting new resource:
The Office of the Inspector General of HHS and the American Health Lawyers Association have teamed up to draft an interesting
guide for members of the board of directors of health care entities. With the recent passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (the corporate responsibility law inspired by the runaway fraud that brought down Enron), there are greater obligations on boards of directors of publicly-held companies to make sure they know what's going on in their companies and a greater liability if something wrong is happening and the board turns a blind eye. In the health care field, in addition to simple accounting fraud, you have the possibility of violating fraud and abuse laws (and many other confusing regulatory prohibitions) as well, so boards of directors should be especially vigilant. While the Sarbanes-Oxley Act doesn't affect non-public boards, it is instructive of what boards should be looking out for, and this fairly short guide is a nice resource.
Jeff [9:22 AM]
[ Tuesday, April 01, 2003 ]
Phoenix Health System's HIPAAdvisory has a new
Industry HIPAA Progress Survey that you can go to and fill out. They're trying to figure out just how far behind we all are.
Jeff [3:47 PM]
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