Overview:
This session will focus on the rights of individuals to communicate in the manner they desire, and how a medical office can decide what is an acceptable process for communications with individuals.
The
session will explain how to discuss communications options with
individuals so that you can best meet their needs and desires while
preserving their rights under the rules.
- With the new HIPAA
random audit program now getting underway, and increases in enforcement
actions following breaches, now is the time to ensure your organization
is in compliance with the regulations and meeting the e-mail and texting
communication needs and desires of its providers and patients. You need
the proper privacy protections for health information, and the
necessary documented policies and procedures, as well as documentation
of any actions taken pursuant to your policies and procedures. Your
policies and procedures will probably need major revisions to maintain
compliance in areas such as individual access of records, accounting of
disclosures, and breach notification. And, of course, you will need to
train your staff in all the new policies and procedures
- E-mail
has long been a staple of people's lives, but as we move into the new
digital age, it seems everyone is moving to a new smartphone and wants
to use it in all the incredible ways it can be used for health care
purposes, including the use of e-mail and texting. Doctors are finding
that texting is far more flexible, convenient, and effective than
paging, and patients want to be able to use short message texting for
handling of appointments, updates, and the like, where even e-mail or
the telephone would seem inconvenient
- In order to integrate the
use of e-mail and texting into patient communications, it is essential
to perform the proper steps in an information security compliance
process to evaluate and address the risks of using the technology. This
session will describe the information security compliance process, how
it works, and how it can help you decide how to integrate e-mail and
texting into your organization in a compliant way. The process,
including the use of information security risk analysis, will be
explained, and the policies needed to support the process will be
described
- But the process must also include consideration of
various patient access requirements in the HIPAA Privacy Rule. There are
new requirements to provide patients electronic access to
electronically held PHI which raises new questions of how that access
will be provided and how the information will be protected during and
after access. And there has long been a HIPAA requirement for covered
entities to do their best to meet the requests of their patients for
particular modes of communication, and using e-mail or texting is no
exception
- The stakes are high - any improper exposure of PHI may
result in an official breach that must be reported to the individual
and to the US Department of Health and Human Services, at great cost and
with the potential to bring fines and other enforcement actions if a
violation of rules is involved. Likewise, complaints by a patient if
they are not afforded the access they desire can bring about HHS
inquiries and enforcement actions, so it is essential to find the right
balance of access and control
- HHS compliance audit activity and
enforcement penalties are both increased, especially in instances of
willful neglect of compliance, if, for instance, your organization
hasn't adopted the complete suite of policies and procedures needed for
compliance, or hasn't adequately considered the impact of e-mail or
texting on your compliance
- The session will discuss the
requirements, the risks, and the issues of the increasing use of e-mail
and texting for patient and provider communications and provide a road
map for how to use them safely and effectively, to increase the quality
of health care and patient satisfaction. In addition, the session will
discuss how to be prepared for the eventuality that there is a breach so
that compliance can be assured
Why you should Attend:
- Now that requirements for allowing patients electronic access to
their health information are in effect, and as patients increasingly
come to depend on electronic communications, there are new demands for
communication via e-mail and texting. Patients don't want to bother with
secure Website-based solutions, they just want to use the tools they
already use for communication, and they have a right to communicate how
they wish
- How can HIPAA requirements for privacy and security be
reconciled with patient requests for information provided by e-mail and
text messages? This session will discuss the differences between
professional communications and patient communications, and how they
must be treated to best serve patients, most efficiently enable
communications, and remain within the bounds of HIPAA compliance
- The
HIPAA Omnibus Update rules contain numerous changes to HIPAA Privacy,
Security, and Breach Notification rules that affect communication with
patients and clients of health care services, who often ask to
communicate with health care offices via e-mail or text message. Many of
the policies and procedures in place at every healthcare-related
organization will need to be reviewed and updated to meet the new
requirements. Organizations need to understand the various ways that
health care communications can take place, and how patient
communications fit in with the HIPAA rules. They need to design and
implement a patient communication policy and plan and train their staff
on it, or they may face significant new fines for noncompliance
- E-mail
and texting present new challenges to health care providers, as there
are simultaneously new requirements to share information with patients,
and a new enforcement effort to ensure the privacy and security of
Protected Health Information (PHI). Meeting both challenges requires
careful consideration of all the regulations and technologies, as well
as patient preferences and workflow
- Most HIPAA-covered entities
now face difficult choices between compliance and ease of
communication. Most organizations haven't updated their information
security risk analysis or policies and procedures and run the risk of
breaches, rule violations, and fines in the event of mishandling of PHI
using these new technologies
Areas Covered in the Session:
- Find out the ways that patients want to use their e-mail and
texting to communicate with providers, and the ways providers want to
use e-mail and texting to enable better patient care
- Learn what are the risks of using e-mail and texting, what can go wrong, and what can result when it does
- Find out about HIPAA requirements for access and patient preferences, as well as the requirements to protect PHI
- Learn
how to use an information security management process to evaluate risks
and make decisions about how best to protect PHI and meet patient needs
and desires
- Find out what policies and procedures you should
have in place for dealing with e-mail and texting, as well as any new
technology
- Learn about the training and education that must take
place to ensure your staff uses e-mail and texting properly and does
not risk exposure of PHI
- Find out the steps that must be followed in the event of a breach of PHI
- Learn
about how the HIPAA audit and enforcement activities are now being
increased and what you need to do to survive a HIPAA audit
Who Will Benefit:
- Compliance Director
- CEO
- CFO
- Privacy Officer
- Security Officer
- Information Systems Manager
- HIPAA Officer
- Chief Information Officer
- Health Information Manager
- Healthcare Counsel/Lawyer
- Office Manager