| HIPAAdvisory > HIPAAnews > Archives |  |
|
January 2006 News ArchivesJanuary 31, 2006 CMS Posts NPI Information for Medicare Organization Provider Subparts The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has prepared a document describing the National Provider Identifier (NPI) "subpart" concept and its relationship to the way in which Medicare enrolls its organization providers. The NPI Final Rule requires healthcare providers who are organizations and who are covered entities under HIPAA to determine if they have subparts that should be assigned NPIs. CMS' paper will be helpful to carrier and fiscal intermediary staff in understanding the issue of subparts and how subpart determination could be done in a way that helps to promote smoother and more efficient Medicare claims processing during the implementation of the NPI in the Medicare program. January 30, 2006 Hospital Employees Fired for Violating Password, Privacy Policies Intermountain Healthcare has fired two employees at Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, UT, after news media reportedly were alerted to the medical condition of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley through an email, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. The 95-year-old president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints underwent surgery at LDS Hospital to remove a cancerous growth earlier this week. Aryn Nelson, a gastroenterologist technician, said she was terminated on Wednesday because she had given her log-in information to a worker whose Internet privileges had been taken away. January 30, 2006 Survey: Consumers Concerned About Control, Access to Medical Info A survey by analyst firm IDC's Health Industry Insights found that many consumers are concerned about their medical information being made available online and want to control who is able to view their personal information, Healthcare IT News reports. Although they may go online to search for healthcare-related information, many say they have concerns about their medical information being made accessible on the Internet and want control over who sees their personal information, according to a survey from analyst firm IDC's Health Industry Insights. Although 89 percent of the 802 consumers surveyed go online to search for information on a specific condition, only 3 percent record their information into an online personal health record. Most who said they were uncomfortable with their health plan sharing health information with a hospital, a specialist, or their primary care doctor were concerned with who saw their information and were worried that the information could be made available online. The survey found that 72 percent said they value the privacy of their medical information as much as their financial data. January 27, 2006 Western NC Hospitals Linked to Share Patient Info Four western North Carolina hospitals have been linked by a computer network that can share patient test results and medical histories, an effort to hold down health care costs while improving treatment, participants announced Thursday, reports the Durham Herald-Sun. The hospitals are expected to be joined by a dozen others from the region in coming months. The private network, called the Western North Carolina Health Network, will be hosted by servers at IBM in Research Triangle Park. January 27, 2006 Health IT May Reduce Medicaid Costs An advocate group urged a federal advisory commission January 25 to endorse the use of electronic health records (EHRs) to help lower burgeoning Medicaid costs, reports Government Health IT. James Frogue, state project director of the Center for Health Transformation in Washington, DC, told the Medicaid Commission that technologies such as EHRs, e-prescribing, and telemedicine "are available that can deliver markedly better care at a fraction of the cost." Former Maine Governor Angus King, co-chairman of the commission, responded by asking how policy-makers can ensure that states use EHRs. Frogue said the federal government should clarify the technical standards to make EHRs more attractive to doctors and hospitals. January 27, 2006 Thief Nabs Backup Data on 365,000 Patients About 365,000 hospice and home healthcare patients in Oregon and Washington are being notified about the theft of computer backup data disks and tapes late last month that included personal information and confidential medical records, reports Computerworld. In an announcement January 25, Providence Home Services, a division of Seattle-based Providence Health Systems, said the records and other data were on several disks and tapes stolen from the car of a Providence employee at his home. The incident was reported by the employee on December 31, according to the healthcare system. The tapes and disks were taken home by the employee as part of a backup protocol that sent them off-site to protect them against loss from fires or other disasters. That practice, which was only used by the home healthcare division of the hospital system, has since been stopped. Read the Oregonian's article, "Providence Critics Push for Safer Records." January 25, 2006 Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Publishes List of Data Breaches; Univ. of WA Medical Center Laptops Stolen with Patients' Data The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has compiled a list of known data security breaches compromising personal information useful to identity thieves that have occurred since ChoicePoint's data breach acknowledgment on February 15, 2005. The list includes the dates the breaches were reported, the names of the institutions, the types of breach, and the number of individuals affected in each breach. Included on the list are the CO Department of Health; OH State University Medical Center; University of FL, Health Sciences Center/ChartOne; Wilcox Memorial Hospital, HI; University of TN Medical Center; Keck School of Medicine, USC; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Squirrel Hill Family Medicine; with the most recent theft being made public just yesterday at the University of WA Medical Center. Thieves stole two laptop computers containing names, Social Security numbers, maiden names, birth dates, diagnoses, and other personal data for about 1,600 University of WA Medical Center patients. The laptops were taken from an off-campus office late December 29 or early December 30. All of the patients whose names and information were on the computers were notified in a January 10 letter. View "A Chronology of Data Breaches Reported Since the ChoicePoint Incident" January 25, 2006 MGMA Comments on Claims Attachments Proposed Rule In a January 23 comment letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on the Claims Attachments Proposed Rule, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) notes clearinghouses, physician software vendors, and insurers need to be ready to support standardized electronic attachments before providers can start the testing process, reports Health Data Management. According to MGMA, the federal government should therefore stagger compliance deadlines for implementing the HIPAA claims attachment standard, with providers having 12 months longer than clearinghouses and payers. "MGMA believes that the timeframe outlined is not adequate for the implementation of the claims attachment standard," according to the comment letter. January 24, 2006 CMS Hosts Free Claims Attachments Audio Conference Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 25, 2006, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM, Eastern time, the Atlanta and Dallas Regions of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be sponsoring a free audio conference regarding HIPAA Electronic Healthcare Claims Attachments. A CMS representative will be available to answer questions following the presentation. This "nuts and bolts" presentation will demonstrate the use of standards in the exchange of claims attachments between payer and providers. Please call 877-203-0044 fifteen minutes prior to call start time and provide the conference ID number - 4198792. Download the audio conference presentation (PowerPoint format). January 23, 2006 Technology Backbone Makes List of Top 10 Healthcare Issues for the Year Ahead PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute issued a report January 10 on the Top 10 Business Issues for the Health Industries in 2006. On the list is the urgent need to reduce medical errors and make investments in IT, including electronic medical records, according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute. Coming in at Number 8, IT is crucial to resolving many of the issues plaguing the healthcare industry. The report predicts significant progress will be made in 2006 by government, industry coalitions, and banks to build a technology infrastructure to improve claims processing, create electronic medical records, reduce medical errors, and track performance. January 20, 2006 HHS Launches Pilot Project to Expand E-Prescribing The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded four contracts in a pilot project to test initial standards for electronic prescribing which may be used as part of the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program. Under the pilot project, four grantee teams will measure the impact of e-prescribing data transmission systems on patient safety and quality of care. The pilot project will also assess resulting changes in workflow in pharmacies and physician offices that may demonstrate a return on investment (ROI) resulting from e-prescribing. The project will be administered jointly by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). January 19, 2006 CMS Offers NPI Guidance The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has published a new fact sheet with answers to questions that healthcare providers may have regarding the National Provider Identifier (NPI). Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) providers can begin to use the NPI January 3, 2006. Medicare systems will accept claims with an NPI, but an existing Medicare legacy identifier must also be on the claim. If you are not a Medicare FFS provider or supplier, you need to be aware of the NPI readiness schedule for each of the health plans with which you do business, as well as any practice management system companies or billing companies (if used). They should determine when each health plan intends to implement the NPI in HIPAA standard transactions. A CMS web page dedicated to providing all the latest NPI news for healthcare providers is available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalProvIdentStand/ January 19, 2006 Health IT Advisers to HHS: Get Initiatives Moving Members of a high-level commission that advises the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the development of health IT urged the department January 17 to speed its timetables for health IT projects. Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel, was among the members of the American Health Information Community who pressed for faster work and more details on the initiatives that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONCHIT) is coordinating. Despite their concerns, American Health Information Community members were generally enthusiastic about the reports they received on the four health IT projects for which HHS has awarded contracts. Also during the meeting, the commission announced the formation of work groups to help it move toward implementation of specific projects within the next year. One group will work on reporting to public health agencies emergency department, utilization, and other essential data from existing hospital and ambulatory care IT systems. Another group will focus on creating electronic registration information and a medication history to empower consumers. A work group focused on improving chronic care management will begin with developing capabilities for secure messaging between patients and their clinicians, and an electronic health records (EHR) work group will start by focusing on the exchange of laboratory results and interpretations. View the webcasts of past meetings of the American Health Information Community. January 18, 2006 US Regional Information Networks Predicted to Grow Forrester Research is predicting that 2006 will be the year that new regional information networks and organizations (RHIOs), that will enable clinicians to securely exchange patient medical records, will slowly begin to come on line in the US, reports E-Health Insider. In a report on trends in US healthcare over the next 12 months, the research firm states that there are currently less than ten such regional information networks exchanging live data, and predicts than no more than ten more will start operation during the course of 2006. January 17, 2006 States, Territories Invited to Participate in National Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration As part of a contract with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International and the National Governors Association (NGA) released a request for proposals inviting US states and territories to participate in a collaborative effort to examine privacy and security laws and business practices that affect the ability of states and territories to exchange interoperable electronic health information. The project arises from a contract awarded in October 2005 by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to a team led by RTI. January 10, 2006 NIST Provides Health IT Standards Source The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has created a web site to search for and publish information in its repository for healthcare standards, organizations and related references, reports Government Computer News. The online Healthcare Standards Landscape is designed to assist in standards development and their coordination, implementation and use. The landscape aims to be a comprehensive source of healthcare standards information and to encourage standards harmonization and collaboration. However, the repository doesn’t contain the actual standards. Some standards development organizations charge for access to standards, while others don’t, but they are proprietary information. January 10, 2006 AHA and CMS Establish Clearinghouse for Questions on HCPCS Coding The American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are collaborating on a clearinghouse to address questions on better using the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS), a national standard code set used by healthcare practitioners, providers and suppliers throughout the US when filing insurance claims for drugs, medical devices, and other items and services. The AHA's Central Office will handle the clearinghouse functions and provide open access to anyone with questions regarding HCPCS coding. The HCPCS was established in 1978 by CMS to provide a standardized coding system for describing the specific items and services provided in the delivery of healthcare. In August 2000, HCPCS was designated a national standard code set under HIPAA for use in all electronic transactions relating to payment for the items and services it covers. January 10, 2006 E-Prescribing Standards Update is Recommended The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is being urged to waste no time in updating the e-prescribing standards that take effect January 1, reports Government Health IT. The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), an official HHS advisory panel, has recommended that the department allow physicians to use the newer Script Standard Implementation Guide Version 8.1, instead of Script 5.0. In a December 20 letter to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, Simon Cohn, committee chairman, wrote “Script 8.1 contains slightly more functionality than Script 5.0 but does not incorporate significant changes from Script 5.0.” The newer version also is backward compatible with the 5.0 version, according to the letter. Read NCVHS' letter on Script 8.1 Recommendations. January 3, 2006 Provider ID is the Next HIPAA Mountain Hospitals and payers have faced many challenges implementing HIPAA; now comes the national provider identifier rule, with a May 23, 2007, compliance date, reports Health Data Management. The identifier is a huge implementation issue because it involves changing information systems and business processes. Several million provider identifiers need to be requested and assigned in the next 17 months. As November ended, only about 220,000 identifiers had been assigned.
|
