The OIG (Office of Inspector General, US HHS Department) 2015 audits will focus on: Extent to which hospitals comply with the contingency planning requirements of HIPAA in terms of establishing policies and procedures for responding to any emergency or events that could compromise protected health information. How truly were the providers entitled to meaningful use…
With digital technology entering the healthcare industry in many ways, there has been a need to ensure meaningful use of electronic health records and ensure privacy of such medical records. To promote this, the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program offers financial incentives to the healthcare enterprises. However, to receive this incentive the CMS has…
The need for effective patient care has driven governments to move the healthcare industry into the digital world. To promote this among the eligible providers and stop the innumerable cases of data loss due to transfer of information on paper charts the government is giving incentives to those who adopt Electronic Health Records (EHR). However,…
The HER audits are around the corner. The Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to encourage healthcare providers to adopt electronic health record systems and ensure secure data sharing practices, brought forth the EHR incentive program. Even as the meaningful use incentive program was intended to encourage healthcare industry adopt digitalization of data, these providers…
Information Technology breakthroughs paved way for wide use of Information management systems in the healthcare sector, transforming the healthcare system for improved patient care and cost reduction. However, the increase in patient’s vital information being collected and stored in hospitals and other healthcare establishments, turned as a prime target for cyber criminals causing hospitals to…
As the healthcare industry moved from being paper based to technology dependent, it did so in various areas and created silos of information that was difficult to communicate across offices of other providers. While technological breakthroughs had taken other industries far ahead, the healthcare industry was yet to be completely techno savvy. The concept of…
The lesson to be learned from recent audits – security risk analysis is imperative for all health care enterprises. And this is a measure that cannot be taken lightly! The responsibility of protecting confidential patient data rests with healthcare enterprises and not EHR vendors. That is all the more reason why no organization can afford…
