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how to really implement hipaa presentation
This document provides information on how to implement HIPAA compliance. It begins by explaining what HIPAA is and who it impacts, such as health care providers, health plans, and clearinghouses. It defines protected health information and the obligations of covered entities and business associates. It emphasizes the importance of having business associate agreements, security policies, training programs, and conducting audits. It provides tips for securing data transmission, backups, access controls, and shredding paper records. The document stresses that HIPAA compliance is essential to avoid penalties for violations and data breaches.
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how to really implement hipaa presentation
- 1. HOW TO REALLY IMPLEMENT HIPAA Presentedby: Melissa Skaggs Provider Resources Group
- 2. WHAT IS HIPAA The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA; Pub.L. 104–191, 110 Stat. 1936, enacted August 21, 1996) was enacted by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996. It has been known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act after two of its leading sponsors. Title I of HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Title II of HIPAA, known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers. This act gives the right to privacy to individuals from age 12 through 18. The provider must have a signed disclosure from the affected before giving out any information on provided health care to anyone, including parents. The administrative simplification provisions also address the security and privacy of health data. The standards are meant to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the nation's health care system by encouraging the widespread use of electronic data interchange in the U.S. health care system. www.wikipedia.com
- 5. WHO IS IMPACTED?DO I NEED TO CARE? Health care providers – A provider of medical, psychiatric, or other health services, and any other person or entity furnishing health care services or supplies. Health plans – an individual or group health plan that provides or pays the cost of medical care. Clearinghouses – A public or private entity that processes or facilitates the processing of non-standard data elements of health information into standard data elements and who transmits any health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction covered in the legislation. Business Associates and Trading Partners
- 6. WHAT IS PROTECTEDHEALTH INFORMATION A person’s name, address, birth date, age, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address Medical records, diagnosis, x-rays, photos, prescriptions, lab work, test results Billing records, claim data, referral authorizations, explanation of benefits Research records Past, Present or Future condition or payment
- 7. Covered Entity (CE) Anybusiness entity that must comply with HIPAA regulations, which includes health- care providers, health plans and health-care clearinghouses. For purposes of HIPAA, health-care providers include hospitals, physicians and other caregivers. This would include: County Boards of DD Private Providers Agency Providers Therapy Providers Nursing Providers Behavioral Support Providers
- 8. Business Associate (BA) Aperson or organization that performs a function or activity on behalf of a covered entity, but is not part of the covered entity's workforce. A business associate can also be a covered entity in its own right. This would include any VENDOR or CONTRACTOR that comes in contact with individuals or their information. Some examples…… Billing Agents IT Providers Software Providers (Intellinetics, Gatekeeper, CareTracker, Solona to name a few) Shredding Companies Contracted Service Providers COGS Housing Providers A Covered Entity must have a Business Associate Agreement on file for all vendors classified as a Business Associate
- 9. Must establish thepermitted and required uses and disclosures of protected health information by the business associate and may not authorize further disclosure in violation of the regulations If the covered entity knows of a practice or pattern of activity that constitutes a material breach of the business associate’s obligations under the contract, the covered entity must take reasonable steps to ensure cure of the breach or terminate the contract or report the problem to the Office of Civil Rights BUSINESS ASSOCIATES CONTRACTS MUST………
- 10. BUSINESS ASSOCIATES OBLIGATIONS Must notuse or disclose protected health information in violation of the law or contract. Implement safeguards against improper use or disclosure. Ensure that any agents or subcontractors agree to fulfill contractual and legal obligations. Afford individual access to records; make available records for amendment by the individual; account to the individual for use or disclosure other than for payment, treatment, or operations. At termination of the contract, return or destroy protected health information.
- 11. What do WeNeed to Be Thinking About???????
- 12. JUST GIVE METHE POLICIES ALREADY Policies should reflect how your organization is handling the requirements of HIPAA These policies should be reviewed annually at a minimum to ensure that the policy is staying current with the organization and technology Staff MUST be trained on HIPAA policies at least annually; keeping it out in front on staff needs to be on going
- 13. Hardware, Software andTransmission Security Organizations should have a hardware firewall in place. Transmission of personal information should be encrypted and comply with HIPAA. Policies should cover the updating of hardware, firmware, operating systems and applications. Disaster Backup and Recovery Plans Policies and Procedures should include a Disaster Backup and Recovery plan to ensure the business can continue operations in the event of a disaster. This includes keeping the business running, recovering lost data, testing of backup procedures and replacement of equipment. Training of Staff Organizations should provide a training program to raise awareness of HIPAA rights. Every individual in the organization must be trained on a regular basis. Training should be provided to include employee awareness, password safeguarding and changing, workstation access, software use, virus and malware information and other mission critical operations. Record and Information Access Policies should define roles on who can have what access to programs and information. These policies should further define the roles in information technology of the IT personnel who have the rights to modify the access.
- 14. Some things tothink about with Data Security Secure Email System - Encryption Secure File Transfer Secure Website for Data transfer (if applicable) Do we have a written Disaster Backup and Recovery Plan Where is it Who’s in charge of the plan Have you tested your plan Do you provide HIPAA training to all new staff and ongoing refresher trainings (so it’s always kept out in front of staff)…do you test your staff Who has access to staff and consumer information Secure passwords(complex, set change schedule) Systems set up so a user can access only needed information Files saved with Password Protection
- 15. DO YOU AUDITYOUR HIPAA PROCESS An audit process should be in place for your HIPAA process. It should include Hardware Software Data Controls Department of Health and Human Services requires the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to audit covered entities and business associates compliance with HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules (See Audit Program Protocol)Organizations responsible for HIPAA-covered data now face one-in-20 odds of facing a HIPAA audit
- 16. SHREDDING PAPER THEHIPAA WAYIn general, examples of proper disposal methods may include, but are not limited to: • For PHI in paper records, Shredding Burning Pulping Pulverizing PHI is rendered essentially unreadable, indecipherable, and otherwise cannot be reconstructed. • Maintaining labeled prescription bottles and other PHI in opaque bags in a secure area and using a disposal vendor as a business associate to pick up and shred or otherwise destroy the PHI. • For PHI on electronic media, clearing (using software or hardware products to overwrite media with non-sensitive data), purging (degaussing or exposing the media to a strong magnetic field in order to disrupt the recorded magnetic domains), or destroying the media (disintegration, pulverization, melting, incinerating, or shredding).
- 17. SECURITY FOR THOSEON THE Step 1: Assess your mobile users – Understanding your users and their use cases is the first step toward HIPAA compliance. Mobile devices are becoming increasingly common as the industry rapidly converts from paper to electronic media. Because of this, IT must now support a wide variety of ePHI, including electronic patient records, email, multiple provider health care records and clinical drug trial results. This mission is complicated by device ownership. In typical scenarios, IT supports staff using personal devices to access sensitive information. Now, in some cases—IT also issues user devices. Documenting the flow of health care information to and from users and their mobile devices is the upfront work that has to be completed before IT can develop a comprehensive security strategy for remote access of ePHI.
- 18. Step 2: Bulletproofyour security strategy Privacyrights.org reported that in 2007 46 health care data breaches occurred, involving 62 stolen or lost laptops with five million identities compromised. The publicity surrounding these breaches has motivated many IT organizations to develop a strategy to secure their laptops with data encryption and password protection. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for handheld devices. What organizations may miss is that rapidly evolving smartphones and PDAs are quickly becoming the everyday PC, with multiple modes of communication, significant processing power and large storage capabilities. This by itself makes today's mobile devices subject to the same risks as laptops. However, handheld mobile devices have several characteristics that make them even more vulnerable than laptops. Their small size makes them substantially more likely to be lost or stolen, and their low cost enables users to easily replace them if lost. Unlike IT-issued laptops, users do not have a compelling reason to report a data breach if they can easily replace the device for a low cost.
- 19. Step 3: Buildyour security solution Unfortunately, the CMS guidance creates multiple technical challenges for IT departments including endpoint security, network access control and user compliance. So what should IT look for in a solution? Laptop support is a must, but ultimately full HIPAA compliance also requires robust support across a diverse set of handheld mobile devices, use cases and ownership scenarios. The ideal system must include: A self-service portal to allow end-users to load security software and policies on personal devices. A flexible device agent that enables IT to secure and manage a wide variety of device platforms for phones and tablets. Policy-controlled security that protects against hacker access and device loss. A centralized management console with integrated help desk capabilities to simplify policy implementation and user support. A compliance management and reporting facility to ensure users adhere to IT policy
- 20. Step 4: Enforceyour policies An organization's HIPAA security policies are only effective if users comply with them — so make sure that your mobile device security policies are understood, by all users and enforced. OCR will be looking to ensure that policies were followed if there is a data breach. Policies need to be enforced with no respect to person/position.
- 21. Step 5: Gopublic Advertise your efforts in HIPAA compliance Marketing Material Website County and State agencies Individuals and Families served
- 22. SO WHAT ARETHEY REALLY LOOKING FOR Employee training and review Vigilant implementation of policies and procedures Regular internal audits Prompt action plan to respond to incidents Risk analysis and ongoing risk management (Security Rule) OCR Presentation February 2014
- 23. SCAN…..ITS A BIGDEAL One sure fire way of protecting yourself in a disaster, audits or HIPAA is to scan documents Lots of options out there for scanning and Protecting the information Any IMPORTANT paper that cannot be recreated needs to be scanned Some are here at the conference…check them out
- 24.
- 25. REAL LIFE VIOLATIONS Initialearly penalties for HIPAA violations were described as a "joke," with most enterprises unmoved by the risk of paying out potential settlements. However, the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in February 2009 completely changed this attitude, with HIPAA penalties now reaching millions of dollars. Cases in point: Cignet's $4.3 million fine in 2011 for denying patients access to medical records $1.5 million fine to Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary for a data compromise involving a lost laptop. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/administrat ive/breachnotificationrule/breachtool.html
- 26. HIPAA COMPLIANCE/ENFORCEMENT (AS OF DECEMBER31, 2012) TOTAL (since 2003) Complaints Filed 77,200 Cases Investigated 27,500 Cases with Corrective Action 18,600 Civil Monetary Penalties & Resolution Agreements (since 2008) $14.9 million Information from OCR Presentation to Tech Alliance February 2014
- 27. Theft – Unauthorize d Accessor Disclosure Loss – Hacking Imprope r Disposa l Unknow n
- 28. Location of BreachLaptop Paper Records Desktop Computer Portable Devices Network Server Other Email EMR
- 29. ONE FINAL THOUGHTFROM OCR OCR Investigator – Wandah Hardy
- 30.
Editor's Notes
- #2 Title I: Health Care Access, Portability, and Renewability[edit]Title I of HIPAA regulates the availability and breadth of group health plans and certain individual health insurance policies. It amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code.Title I also limits restrictions that a group health plan can place on benefits for preexisting conditions. Group health plans may refuse to provide benefits relating to preexisting conditions for a period of 12 months after enrollment in the plan or 18 months in the case of late enrollment.[5] However, individuals may reduce this exclusion period if they had group health plan coverage or health insurance prior to enrolling in the plan. Title I allows individuals to reduce the exclusion period by the amount of time that they had "creditable coverage" prior to enrolling in the plan and after any "significant breaks" in coverage.[6] "Creditable coverage" is defined quite broadly and includes nearly all group and individual health plans, Medicare, and Medicaid.[7] A "significant break" in coverage is defined as any 63 day period without any creditable coverage.[8]Some health care plans are exempted from Title I requirements, such as long-term health plans and limited-scope plans such as dental or vision plans that are offered separately from the general health plan. However, if such benefits are part of the general health plan, then HIPAA still applies to such benefits. For example, if the new plan offers dental benefits, then it must count creditable continuous coverage under the old health plan towards any of its exclusion periods for dental benefits.An alternate method of calculating creditable continuous coverage is available to the health plan under Title I. That is, 5 categories of health coverage can be considered separately, including dental and vision coverage. Anything not under those 5 categories must use the general calculation (e.g., the beneficiary may be counted with 18 months of general coverage, but only 6 months of dental coverage, because the beneficiary did not have a general health plan that covered dental until 6 months prior to the application date). Since limited-coverage plans are exempt from HIPAA requirements, the odd case exists in which the applicant to a general group health plan cannot obtain certificates of creditable continuous coverage for independent limited-scope plans such as dental to apply towards exclusion periods of the new plan that does include those coverages.Hidden exclusion periods are not valid under Title I (e.g., "The accident, to be covered, must have occurred while the beneficiary was covered under this exact same health insurance contract"). Such clauses must not be acted upon by the health plan and also must be re-written so that they comply with HIPAA.To illustrate, suppose someone enrolls in a group health plan on January 1, 2006. This person had previously been insured from January 1, 2004 until February 1, 2005 and from August 1, 2005 until December 31, 2005. To determine how much coverage can be credited against the exclusion period in the new plan, start at the enrollment date and count backwards until a significant break in coverage is reached. So, the five months of coverage between August 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005 clearly counts against the exclusion period. But the period without insurance between February 1, 2005 and August 1, 2005 is greater than 63 days. Thus, this is a significant break in coverage, and any coverage prior to it cannot be deducted from the exclusion period. So, this person could deduct five months from his exclusion period, reducing the exclusion period to seven months. Hence, Title I requires that any preexisting condition begin to be covered on August 1, 2006.Title II: Preventing Health Care Fraud and Abuse; Administrative Simplification; Medical Liability Reform[edit]This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010) Title II of HIPAA defines policies, procedures and guidelines for maintaining the privacy and security of individually identifiable health information as well as outlining numerous offenses relating to health care and sets civil and criminal penalties for violations. It also creates several programs to control fraud and abuse within the health care system.[9][10][11] However, the most significant provisions of Title II are its Administrative Simplification rules. Title II requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to draft rules aimed at increasing the efficiency of the health care system by creating standards for the use and dissemination of health care information.These rules apply to "covered entities" as defined by HIPAA and the HHS. Covered entities include health plans, health care clearinghouses, such as billing services and community health information systems, and health care providers that transmit health care data in a way that is regulated by HIPAA.[12][13]Per the requirements of Title II, the HHS has promulgated five rules regarding Administrative Simplification: the Privacy Rule, the Transactions and Code Sets Rule, the Security Rule, the Unique Identifiers Rule, and the Enforcement Rule.Privacy Rule[edit]The effective compliance date of the Privacy Rule was April 14, 2003 with a one-year extension for certain "small plans". The HIPAA Privacy Rule regulates the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) held by "covered entities" (generally, health care clearinghouses, employer sponsored health plans, health insurers, and medical service providers that engage in certain transactions.)[14] By regulation, the Department of Health and Human Services extended the HIPAA privacy rule to independent contractors of covered entities who fit within the definition of "business associates".[15] PHI is any information held by a covered entity which concerns health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that can be linked to an individual.[16] This is interpreted rather broadly and includes any part of an individual's medical record or payment history. Covered entities must disclose PHI to the individual within 30 days upon request.[17] They also must disclose PHI when required to do so by law such as reporting suspected child abuse to state child welfare agencies.[18]A covered entity may disclose PHI (Protected Health Information) to facilitate treatment, payment, or health care operations without a patient's express written authorization.[19] Any other disclosures of PHI (Protected Health Information) require the covered entity to obtain written authorization from the individual for the disclosure.[20] However, when a covered entity discloses any PHI, it must make a reasonable effort to disclose only the minimum necessary information required to achieve its purpose.[21]The Privacy Rule gives individuals the right to request that a covered entity correct any inaccurate PHI.[22] It also requires covered entities to take reasonable steps to ensure the confidentiality of communications with individuals.[23] For example, an individual can ask to be called at his or her work number instead of home or cell phone numbers.The Privacy Rule requires covered entities to notify individuals of uses of their PHI. Covered entities must also keep track of disclosures of PHI and document privacy policies and procedures.[24] They must appoint a Privacy Official and a contact person[25] responsible for receiving complaints and train all members of their workforce in procedures regarding PHI.[26]An individual who believes that the Privacy Rule is not being upheld can file a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR).[27][28] However, according to the Wall Street Journal, the OCR has a long backlog and ignores most complaints. "Complaints of privacy violations have been piling up at the Department of Health and Human Services. Between April of 2003 and November 2006, the agency fielded 23,886 complaints related to medical-privacy rules, but it has not yet taken any enforcement actions against hospitals, doctors, insurers or anyone else for rule violations. A spokesman for the agency says it has closed three-quarters of the complaints, typically because it found no violation or after it provided informal guidance to the parties involved."[29] However, in July 2011, UCLA agreed to pay $865,500 in a settlement regarding potential HIPAA violations. An HHS Office for Civil Rights investigation showed that from 2005 to 2008 unauthorized employees repeatedly and without legitimate cause looked at the electronic protected health information of numerous UCLAHS patients.[30]2013 changes to Privacy Rule[edit]In January 2013, HIPAA was updated to a rule that is often referred to as Omnibus Rule.[31] Protection of PHI was changed from indefinite to 50 years after death. More severe penalties were also approved for violation of PHI privacy.Unique Identifiers Rule (National Provider Identifier)[edit]HIPAA covered entities such as providers completing electronic transactions, healthcare clearinghouses, and large health plans, must use only the National Provider Identifier (NPI) to identify covered healthcare providers in standard transactions by May 23, 2007. Small health plans must use only the NPI by May 23, 2008.Effective from May 2006 (May 2007 for small health plans), all covered entities using electronic communications (e.g., physicians, hospitals, health insurance companies, and so forth) must use a single new NPI. The NPI replaces all other identifiers used by health plans, Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs. However, the NPI does not replace a provider's DEA number, state license number, or tax identification number. The NPI is 10 digits (may be alphanumeric), with the last digit being a checksum. The NPI cannot contain any embedded intelligence; in other words, the NPI is simply a number that does not itself have any additional meaning. The NPI is unique and national, never re-used, and except for institutions, a provider usually can have only one. An institution may obtain multiple NPIs for different "subparts" such as a free-standing cancer center or rehab facility.