Guidelines for discussion on HIPAAlive/
AKA List Policy
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
The subject matter of messages should relate to healthcare
information security and confidentiality, including the impact of
national legislation such as HIPAA and other related federal and
state initiatives.
Topics for discussion may include, but are not limited
to:
- legislative and other regulatory developments;
- responses from industry, associations, and others;
- compliance planning;
- staff education;
- implementation how-to's;
- applicable technologies;
- integrating compliance efforts between organizations;
- impact on healthcare professionals, patients,
and others;
- costs;
- enforcement;
- any related questions or concerns. Basically,
ANYTHING related to the security and privacy of medical or other
health information within the healthcare environment is fair game
for the discussion.
NO-NOS:
While information security technologies are legitimate topics for
discussion on HIPAAlive, advertisements, promotions or "pitches"
for particular products or services are not -- even if submitted
by "non-interested" parties. Offenders of this policy will be removed
from the subscription list.
Culling email addresses
Organizations may answer specific questions off-list (via email).
However, culling email addresses from the list and sending
indiscriminate mass marketing emails is prohibited and
offenders will be removed from the list.
Surveying list participants
The surveying of list participants is prohibited. Phoenix
Health Systems (operators of the list) in conjunction with the
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conducts
semi-annual surveys of the HIPAA community and makes the results
available at this web site, HIPAAdvisory.com.
Posting announcements/press releases
Generally, announcements are not appropriate for this
list. However, weekly conference announcements will be made to
the list by Phoenix Health Systems, the list owner. Each conference
will be included in the weekly announcement one time only. Any
conference announced on HIPAAlive will be included on the HIPAAdvisory
conference calendar for future reference. To have an upcoming
HIPAA-related conference added to this posting and to our Conference
Calendar, simply contact us.
Please note that only Phoenix Health Systems should post announcements
to the list; this includes press releases. You may send a link
to a HIPAA-related press release as long as it is on a non-commercial
site. Please do not post any articles to the list, as redistribution
may be an infringement of the copyright laws.
Off-topic postings
Postings that are unrelated to the purpose of this list
are also unacceptable. Individuals who repeatedly submit off-subject
messages will be asked to desist, and may be removed from the
subscription list.
SIGNATURE BLOCKS AND WEB SITE ADDRESSES
Please keep your signature blocks down to name, title, company,
address and email address. Don't include tag
lines, which often serve as self-promotion and thus go against list
policy. This signature block
policy applies to all members, including governmental, advisory
organizations, associations, etc.
COMMERCIAL URLs and DISCUSSION OF VENDOR PRODUCTS
COMMERCIAL website URLs may not be included within the text of
messages
to HIPAAlive when it is reasonable to believe that the URL is being posted
in order to sell a product or service, including membership. Our members and we hope to keep the forum free from
commercial
promotion or the appearance of it.
What a "commercial URL" is NOT:
- Government offices and agencies.
- Non-profit educational institutions, industry associations
and advisory bodies, when it's reasonable to believe that their
URLs are being posted for appropriate, non-revenue-generating,
educational purposes.
AS EXAMPLES, under this policy:
- You are welcome to post the URL of an association such as HIMSS,
AHA, AHIMA, AMIA, HFMA, AFEHCT, WEDI, MGMA, ADA, and AMA when
your purpose is to direct list participants to documents that
are legitimate
HIPAA-related resource material.
- However, announcements and URLs to notify members of conferences,
seminars, books, surveys, and other products or services that
are "for sale" are not permitted, even if sponsored
or provided by a non-profit organization.
Users may discuss HIPAA-related products on HIPAAlive. However,
introductions of this topic, or responses to product discussions,
by any product vendor will not be acceptable to the list. If a product
vendor posts messages to HIPAAlive regarding their own or other
vendor products, they will be warned that further such postings
will result in their being removed from the subscriber list.
THE GOALS BEHIND OUR "NO COMMERCIAL
PROMOTION" POLICY
The goals behind this policy are two-fold. First, the policy should
minimize the length of messages; unnecessarily long "signatures"
create excessive, irrelevant and self-serving information to wade
through. Secondly, this policy will minimize commercial postings
to keep the focus of the forum on HIPAA discussion, Q/A and related
community support.
HIPAAlive is a popular listserve with heavy daily traffic. Our
members do not want to increase traffic unnecessarily or inappropriately
through commercial publicity postings.
MODERATION BY PHOENIX, HIPAALIVE'S
SPONSOR
HIPAAlive is reviewed daily by list administrators provided by
Phoenix Health Systems, the list sponsor. Our HIPAA specialists
may respond occasionally to discussion questions or issues, but
it is Phoenix' intent NOT to promote our knowledge, expertise or
capabilities through HIPAAlive. HIPAAlive is not intended as a consultative
or advisory service of Phoenix Health Systems. Phoenix' purpose
in sponsoring HIPAAlive is to encourage members of the healthcare
industry to enjoy and benefit from HIPAAlive as an open forum for
discussion, learning, problem-solving, and mutual support.
Because a discussion list can be very dynamic and unforeseen issues
may arise, Phoenix Health Systems, Inc. reserves the right to modify
this policy at any time to increase its value to HIPAAlive members.
POSTING TO THE LIST
You must be a subscriber to post messages. Sending mail to this
address will distribute it to all the members of the mailing list:
hipaalive@lists.hipaalert.com.
As a courtesy to other list members, please edit your responses
to remove unnecessary or multiple >>>'s (prior messages and replies).
Disclaimer: Any legal guidance or information provided by
a licensed attorney given in this listserv is not intended to be
a legal opinion or to replace the advice of a party's own attorney.
Sound legal advice requires a thorough understanding of the factual
content of any issue or problem that arises. Only then can a reasoned
application of law be made to the specific facts upon consideration
of the practical problems presented and the legal alternatives available.
Providing legal advice is beyond the scope and purpose of this listserv.
Individuals using this listserve should consult with their own attorneys
for advice and guidance in interpreting the law.
IMPORTANT!! IF YOU ARE A DIGEST SUBSCRIBER, IN ORDER
TO POST OR REPLY TO THE LIST: You must change the Subject: line
when replying to a digest; all posts with "HIPAAlive DIGEST" in
the Subject: line will be rejected by the server (you will receive
a rejection notice when this happens).
PROBLEMS:
- If you have problems posting to the HIPAAlive discussion
list, make sure you're following these steps:
- Messages to the list go to: hipaalive@lists.hipaalert.com.
- Use the correct subject line format. Each post to the list
should contain an ALL-CAPS header in the subject line, followed
by several words describing the gist of your message. Following
this format for subject lines makes it easier for members to
scan posts, sort, filter, read or delete as suits them.
- Finally, your signature block may not contain your URL. Also,
web site URLs may not be included within the text of messages
to HIPAAlive when it is reasonable to believe that the URL is
being posted in order to sell a product or service, including
membership.
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