Sunday, November 10, 2013

Recent Changes In HIPAA Policy

By Franklin Skribbit


The much anticipated Omnibus Rule that modifies the former regulations surrounding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (or HIPAA as it is commonly known) is now in full swing and completely enacted by federal law. The Omnibus Rule, that was signed in January and implemented in March, has now survived its six month compliance period and is completely incorporated, or should be, by all entities and business that are covered by HIPAA policies as of September 23 of this year.

Harassment, whether sexual, emotional, or physical, can quickly tear down a company's morale and overall happiness of the workforce within the company in addition to the needless damage it can inflict upon the victim of the harassment. To avoid cases of harassment within the work place, managers and owners of companies will need to take measures to ensure that they can mitigate the plausibility of harassment occurring within their organization.

Ignorance of the new HIPAA regulations by any business as a whole, however, should not be so easily excused. Businesses of any type or form should understand the new regulations surrounding the HIPAA reforms so that they can best, and legally, serve their employees with the proper understanding of online HIPAA training.

How long had it been since he had smiled when he came home? Why was he letting this job get the best of him? These were questions he asked himself every day. He knew he didn't belong in an office doing stupid marketing but he also knew that deep down what he wanted would never pay the bills.

The new changes to HIPAA are more likely to affect those businesses and entities who are covered by HIPAA, including health care providers, health care planners and implementers, and the health care insurance plans of most self-insured employers and clearinghouses. The new changes will likewise affect the business associates of the above mentioned organizations who access the organization's protected health information, known commonly by its acronym of PHI.

While it is wrong to dismiss any claim of harassment as fraudulent before taking all the investigative steps, it has happened before that employees file false claims to be awarded money or some other form of compensation following a lawsuit. To protect against false accusations and increased liability, as well as to protect against the possible cases of harassment from possibly being feasible to accomplish, owners and managers should consider instituting the open door policy within their organization.

Other changes that will effect HIPAA covered businesses and organizations include an expanded liability for how business associates and their subcontractors handle PHI moving forward, covered organizations will have to revamp their Notices of Privacy Practices in order to properly reflect their uses and disclosures of the patient's PHI, and individuals will be able to have certain PHI from being disclosed to health plans if the individual pays in full for the service out of pocket and requests that the care be restricted. With these and other important changes to HIPAA, it is vitally important for both individuals and organizations to learn all they can about the recent alterations to HIPAA.




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