 News
Archives - 2001 |
| Proposed Privacy Rule Not to be Published Until Early
2002 |
| 11/21/2001 |
|
| September 11th has altered DHHS' original timeline for
completing the final privacy rule, pushing the publication date to January or
February 2002. "We had been hopeful of having the modifications done by April
2002 so that there would be a full year before the original compliance
deadline," said Susan McAndrew, an official in DHHS' Office of Civil Rights
(OCR), at a meeting November 15th of the National Committee on Vital and Health
Statistics (NCVHS). McAndrew said, "I am not optimistic that we can have a
final rule out by that date. DHHS is still aiming for the late 2001 time-frame
for publishing draft rules to revise the Transactions standards. The target
goal is to publish the rules during the January through March period. Although
a rule on enforcement is not required by HIPAA, DHHS is working to develop a
draft rule in order to clarify the enforcement process for covered entities. A
work group has begun to consider how enforcement might look". Another top
expert, Karen Trudel, former director of the Division of Health Care
Information Standard reported that "we will get the message out to providers to
make sure they know what they need to do to be HIPAA compliant."
Read The Full
Story |
| Survey Says Data Protection Top Health Care
Concern |
| 11/20/2001 |
|
| Health Data Management reports protecting health data has
become the top concern for health care information executives as the HIPAA
deadlines approach. Read The Full
Story |
| HIPAA
Privacy Regs Offer Little To Internet Users |
| 11/19/2001 |
|
| The Health Privacy Project funded by the Pew Internet &
American Life Project issued a report today examining how HIPAA affects
consumer health Web sites and Internet-based health care. The report concluded
that: (a) the regulation does not apply to most health Web sites; (b) different
rules may apply to different sites offering the same services; and (c) even at
Web sites owned or operated by organizations that are covered by the privacy
regulation, it is ambiguous which activities at those sites are subject to the
regulation. Read The Full
Story |
| Braithwaite and Sanches Announce Career Moves |
| 10/31/2001 |
|
| Senior DHHS staffers William Braithwaite and Linda Sanches have
announced major career moves. DHHS's most visible advisors on HIPAA-related
issues, Braithwaite and Sanches have been credited with much of the evolution
of HIPAA and its mandated regulations. William "Bill" Braithwaite, PhD, MD, and
senior advisor on health information policy at DHHS, has reported that he is
leaving government to join Price Waterhouse Coopers as director of its health
care practice in Washington, DC. He has been closely involved with HIPAA since
its beginnnings, having served on the Senate Finance Committee staff in the
early 90's that developed the Administrative Simplification Provisions. Linda
Sanches, a DHHS senior health policy analyst, is moving to the Office for Civil
Rights, the body that has been charged with enforciing HIPAA. She was a lead
member of the team that created the HIPAA Privacy Rule. |
| Thompson Urged To Make Critical Changes To HIPAA |
| 10/27/2001 |
|
| In a letter dated October 23, more than two dozen health care
and employer organizations - including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Health
Insurance Association of America and the Healthcare Leadership Council - urged
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson to make critical changes to the HIPAA privacy
rules. According to the organizations, revisions are "urgently needed" in
several areas, including: prior consent, oral communications, and the "minimum
necessary" provision. Read The Complete
Article |
| Homeland Security: The Need For HIPAA |
| 10/26/2001 |
|
| HIPAA's essential role. The new office of Homeland Security has
created a new mission for everyone to participate in keeping our nation safe
and secure from anyone who would want to put us at risk. A need that is
beginning to be addressed is the coordination of our health care resources. The
ability to have an efficient health care system to support Homeland Security is
critical. Standardization and security of health care information is vital for
this mission. Health care must be prepared to efficiently and safely treat any
patient in any institution that may be local to a disaster. In these
situations, the chances of the patient surviving could be based on the
availability of that individual's health care information being quickly
accessible and easily understood. To be ready to handle patients in a moment's
notice from any location where a disaster might occur, we will need to begin
standardizing our healthcare processes, our health care information, and our
healthcare collaboration. Read The Complete
Article |
| AMA
Recommends Better Security & Disaster Planning |
| 10/22/2001 |
|
| The American Medical Association has issued strong advisories
to health care providers to pay new and special attention to security and
disaster preparedness. The AMA is urging upgrades in emergency response and
disaster plans, including strong back-up and recovery of telecommunications,
information systems and data storage. Read AMA's
Recommendation |
| NCVHS
Asks HHS for HIPAA Privacy Modifications |
| 10/12/2001 |
|
| The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS)
has released recommendations on HIPAA Privacy implementation, following lengthy
public hearings held in August. The recommendations, which are documented in an
October 1, 2001 letter by the Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality to
HHS Sec. Tommy Thompson, address several issues including Emergency Access,
First Encounters, Revocation of Consent, Consent by Minors, Disclosure for
Accreditation and Health Care Quality, Involuntary Commitment, Minimum
Necessary, and Defensive Practices. In addition, the sub-committee recommended
that HHS issue advisory opinions, best practices information, and model
policies, procedures, and forms related to HIPAA compliance. The group expects
to issue additional recommendations in the future, addressing research and
marketing under the Privacy Rule. Read NCVHS' Letter To Secretary
Thompson |
| Public Health Hampered by "Paper Records" - HIPAA Offers
Solutions |
| 10/9/2001 |
|
|
According to Healthkey's new report,
"Report to the Community", it can take several days, even weeks to alert public
health authorities about potential outbreaks of communicable diseases. Laura
Ripp, program director of Healthkey, a coalition of non-profit healthcare
organizations, stated that replacing the paper-based system with secure
electronic information exchange via standardized, secure e-mail would
"significantly reduce reporting time and allow state and local health
departments and the CDC to react much more quickly to stop the spread of an
infectious disease." She emphasized that collaboration among information
technology leaders, healthcare vendors and government policy-makers will be the
determining factor for successful resolution of this issue, which is one of
many standardized security and privacy initiatives supported by HIPAA.
Read the USA Today Article
|
| House
Leaders Urge Immediate Administrative HIPAA Simplification |
| 10/5/2001 |
|
|
According to the American Hospital
Association (AHA), a bipartisan group of House health care leaders are calling
on an end to delays to the implementation of administrative simplifications to
HIPAA. In a letter sent yesterday to their congressional colleagues, Ways &
Means Health Subcommittee members Reps. Bill Thomas (R-CA), Charlie Rangel
(D-NY), Nancy Johnson (R-CT), and Pete Stark (D-CA), said the provisions will
improve administrative efficiency in the health care field by facilitating
electronic transactions between health plans and health care providers. Citing
a letter sent last week by AHA and others opposing the delay, the House
lawmakers said if the provisions are delayed, public programs such as Medicare
and Medicaid, private payers and ultimately all Americans will needlessly
continue to pay for the inefficiencies inherent in the current "Byzantine"
system. Read the Ways & Means Health
Subcommittee letter. |
| Governors Support HIPAA Delay "To Strengthen National Safety Net,
Stimulate the Economy" |
| 10/4/2001 |
|
|
The National Governors Association (NGA)
has included a request to delay HIPAA compliance deadlines in its proposals for
a legislative stimulus package being considered by the Administration and
Congress after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Their request stated, "...new and
unprecedented State responsibilities for homeland security are exacerbating
serious fiscal conditions. The House economic stimulus bill, if enacted, would
further reduce state revenues by at least $5 billion annually. This revenue
eduction would dramatically increase existing state shortfalls and result in
significant state budget cuts. These cuts, in turn, would hamper the
effectiveness of any federal stimulus package. Similarly, absent any changes in
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or new federal
funding for HIPAA implementation in state-administered programs, states will
have little choice but to divert scarce funds to comply with this federal
mandate. This means that significantly less state funds will be available for
education, critical state services, capital investment, infrastructure
improvement, and additional efforts to respond to bioterrorism and other
threats to homeland security." |
| HIPAA
Regulations Updates |
| 10/4/2001 |
|
|
Before HIPAA final rules and NPRMs may
be published, the Federal rule-making process requires that they undergo a last
DHHS review and approval by the Secretary. Then they must be submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for final review from a government-wide
perspective. The Employer Identifier Rule has been drafted and sent to DHHS for
its final review, according to an October 1 report by WEDI (Workgroup for
Electronic Data Interchange). WEDI's report, which has been confirmed by
government sources, also stated that two proposed rules (NPRMs) for revising
the Transaction and Code Set standards should be published by the end of the
year. These rules will propose making certain changes in Designated Standard
Maintenance Organizations (DSMOs), and removing the NDC code as the drug-coding
standard for all but retail pharmacy transactions. A NPRM for Privacy is
currently anticipated to be released in December of this year. DHHS noted in
its July 6 Privacy Guidance document that it would issue NPRMs "expeditiously"
that would propose modifications of the final Privacy Rule "to correct any
unintended negative effects." WEDI also reported that the Claim Attachment NPRM
and the Security final rule are in the final stages of preparation, and may be
published early next year. The Provider Identifier and Plan Identifier are in
process, but no definitive action is anticipated this year. |
| FTC
Will Not Seek New Internet Privacy Laws |
| 10/3/2001 |
|
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman
Timothy J. Muris delivered remarks today at the 2001 Privacy Conference in
Cleveland, OH, outlining the FTC's new Privacy Agenda and announcing that the
agency plans to increase resources dedicated to privacy protection by 50
percent. As the nation's leading consumer protection agency, the Chairman said,
the Commission's new Privacy Agenda will contain the following major law
enforcement and education initiatives:
· Creating a National Do-Not-Call
List
· Beefing Up Enforcement Against Deceptive
Spam
· Helping Victims of Identity Theft
·
Putting a Stop to Pretexting
· Encouraging Accuracy in Credit
Reporting and Compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act
(FCRA)
· Enforcing Privacy Promises
·
Increasing Enforcement and Outreach on Children's Online Privacy
·
Tracking Consumers' Privacy Complaints
· Enforcing the
Telemarketing Sales Rule
· Restricting the Use of
Pre-acquired Account Information
· Enforcing the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB)
· Holding Privacy-related
Commission Workshops.
Read The Chairman's Remarks or Read The Article In The Washington
Times |
| Privacy & Security Roles Redifined After 9/11
Attacks |
| 9/29/2001 |
|
|
The impact of the 9/11 attacks on
America transformed Americans attitudes about privacy and security according to
a recent poll conducted by Scientific American of U.S. and international
experts on privacy and security in advance of the November 13/14 Scientific
American Global Summit on Privacy & Security in the Digital Age. The
survey, conducted by Leflein Associates, was sent to the Summit's 54 advisory
board members and speakers, a Who's Who among the global privacy and security
community, which includes U.S. government officials, IT leaders, and privacy
commissioners from around the world. Read the Top 10 Key Findings.
|
| Patient Privacy Would Be Threatened By Transactions
Delay |
| 9/29/2001 |
|
|
The Health Privacy Project responded on
September 21st to a Congressional inquiry on how a delay in the HIPAA
Transactions compliance deadline would impact the HIPAA privacy regulation.
Janlori Goldman, Director of the Health Privacy Project at Georgetown
University's Institute for Health Care Research and Policy, in a letter to
Senator Edward Kennedy, described the Transactions, Privacy and Security Rules
as so interrelated that a delay in Transactions compliance would directly
affect compliance with patient privacy and information security mandates. She
stated, "According to HHS, only providers that engage in electronic
transactions using the standard formats set out in the transactions regulation
must comply with the privacy regulation. Thus, any delay in the transactions
regulation directly impacts the time frame for provider compliance with the
privacy regulation." Read Her Complete Letter
(PDF/48Kb) |
| HIPAA
Transactions Compliance Delay Unlikely |
| 9/28/2001 |
|
|
Delay in HIPAA electronic standards'
October 2002 compliance date is unlikely to pass Congress, DHHS Secretary
Thomspon said Sept. 27 at a National Association of Manufacturers meeting. The
Senate Finance Committee is seeking a one-year delay in transaction and code
set implementation only, but any delay is opposed by Sen. Kennedy (D-Mass.)
because it may also push back privacy regs. A March bill to replace the privacy
rule (HR 1215), introduced by Rep. Greenwood (R-Penn.), has been referred to
the House Judiciary/Crime Subcommittee. |
| Web-Based E-Health Imperiled by Privacy Concerns |
| 9/9/2001 |
|
|
Privacy concerns represent a very real
obstacle to further development of web-based applications in the e-health
environment, according to a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The
report, The e-Health Landscape, warned that unless privacy and data security
issues are adequately addressed, the use of the electronic medical record and
the success of online integration of data and other technologies will be
stunted. In a caution to application service providers, the report noted that
while the use of XML will enable the development of more powerful,
user-friendly and specialized e-health tools, it "also may result in privacy
and data security considerations." |
| CDC
Guide Includes HIPAA Privacy Issues |
| 8/30/2001 |
|
|
The Centers for Disease Control has
issued updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems,
acknowledging the impact of the HIPAA privacy rule as well as the electronic
transaction standards. CDC noted that continuing advances in technology raise
concerns over "adherence to confidentiality and security
standards." |
| Judges Seek Privacy Protection for Online Case Files
|
| 8/27/2001 |
|
|
A committee of 15 federal judges within
Judicial Conference of the United States unanimously recommended rules that
would force litigants to modify and edit out personally identifiable
information - including health information - in Social Security cases before
the court system would provide electronic access to case files. The conference,
which sets policies for the federal judiciary, will consider the
recommendations Sept. 11. |
| Blunder Sends Sensitive E-Mail to Every Air Force
Cadet |
| 8/26/2001 |
|
|
An Air Force Academy officer "pushed a
wrong button" and sent an e-mail with sensitive details about on-campus
investigations to all 4,400 cadets, school officials confirmed. The e-mail
named 40 cadets who have been punished or are under investigation, along with
case details. It also discussed cadets who are being treated for mental health
problems. The e-mail was intended to update a select group of commanders. All
cadets were ordered to delete the message. Col. Marty Coffman did not comment
on any possible punishment for the officer but noted that future updates will
be hand-delivered. |
| Industry Seeks Quicker Action on Privacy Rule Changes
|
| 8/15/2001 |
|
|
HHS's first round of clarifications to
the HIPAA privacy rule has only whetted the appetite of the health care
industry. In an Aug. 6 letter, more than 80 health care and employer groups
asked HHS to move more quickly in making changes. "Our purpose in writing is to
convey how imperative it is for the Department to publish these modifications
and changes as soon as possible so that our members have adequate time to
comply with this complex rule," the associations wrote. Among the signatories:
the Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which has sought a delay in the implementation
deadlines for HIPAA electronic transaction standards. |
| Health Privacy Rules to Proceed |
| 8/13/2001 |
|
|
Privacy rules that say what employers,
the health industry and marketers can do with patients' medical records will
move forward, despite heavy lobbying by those who wanted the rules delayed or
changed.
Read The Article
|
| Companies Slow to Adopt HIPAA Regulations |
| 7/25/2001 |
|
|
Some companies are slow to adopt HIPAA
regulations as the deadlines loom closer. Dr. Keith Van de Castle, HIPAA expert
at JAWZ states that healthcare organizations do not fear government sanctions
as much as customer retaliation. "Forget the government, it's patients taking
business elsewhere that has them worried. It's an attorney nailing them to the
wall....they may get fined $25,000 (from the government) but lose a couple
million (dollars) in business because no one wants to do business with a
company that can't protect its information.'' The report goes on to quote
statistics from the Garner Group that states unless substantial progress is
made in the next three months, the healthcare industry won't be ready to meet
the first deadline. Further statistics include, only 9 percent of healthcare
organizations have completed privacy assessments, only 27 percent have begun
preliminary budgeting for compliance and less than 30 percent of organizations
have begun formal HIPAA education for employees. |
|
| Physicians Sue To throw Out HIPAA! |
| 7/15/2001 |
|
|
A group of South Carolina physicians
challenged the constitutionality of the Federal HIPAA regulations and sued the
United States Government in an unpresidented attempt to have the entire HIPAA
Rule declared unconstitutional. |
|
| Senators Press for Internet Privacy Bill |
| 7/12/2001 |
|
|
Senators pressing for an Internet
privacy law say they have learned from their mistakes in previous failed bills,
including not specifying whether medical and financial data should get more
protection. Several members of the Commerce Committee said Wednesday they were
committed to producing a law this year. The legislation they envision may
require that consumers give their consent before companies use their medical or
financial information, but have a lesser "opt-out" standard for regular
Internet purchases.
Read The
Washington Post Article |
|
|
| AHA
Reacts to Privacy Guidance |
| 7/12/2001 |
|
|
The AHA welcomed DHHS' issuance of its
first HIPAA privacy regs guidance, but said critical issues still need to be
addressed. The association said DHHS appears to have taken steps toward
assisting hospitals in such key areas as minimum necessary standards, oral
communications and consent requirements. However, AHA said the guidance does
not address concerns on issues such as data aggregation for benchmarking,
business associate requirements, and disclosures to the government.
Read the Full
Story |
|
| Press
Rips HIPAA |
| 7/8/2001 |
|
|
Sick of HIPAA? You've got company, and
from an unlikely source: the news media. Hospitals & Health Networks
reported today that a coalition of 46 news organinations is taking a stand
against the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act because of its
stringent rules restricting the release of medical records to the public. The
press groups-dubbing HIPAA an "official secrets act for health care"-object to
the privacy regulations that took effect earher this spring. (Hospitals have
two years to comply.) They fear that the regulations could impinge on their
ability to report news. The coalition asked Health and Human Services Secretary
Tommy Thompson to revise the regulations. "The public's best interests were
just not considered," says Diana Kramer, executive director of the Washington
(state) Newspaper Publishers Association. Particularly onerous to the press
groups: HIPAA-mandated penalties that call for up to 10 years in prison and a
$250,000 fine for obtaining or disclosing health information under certain
extreme circumstances. The mere threat of such harsh punishment would make
investigative reporting on health care nearly impossible, Kramer says.
"Newspapers are just not going to get the information they need." Privacy
advocates aren't buying it. "People have the right to control their personal,
private information," says Ronald Weich, legislative consultant for the Amencan
Civil Liberties Union. journalistic endeavors must take a backseat to patient
privacy, Weich argues. The press groups say they recognize the need for
privacy. "Certainly, an individual has a right to guard his or her own medical
records from abusive releases," Kramer wrote in a letter to HHS this spring.
But they're not backing down. "If the HIPAA regulations had been in effect
during the Oklahoma City bombing, important injury information would never have
been released," Kramer says."That does nothing for both the press and the
public." |
|
| Abortion Patient's Picture, Medical Records Posted on
Web |
| 7/7/2001 |
|
|
An Illinois woman who suffered a
cervical tear during an abortion is suing antiabortion activists for posting
her picture, medical records, and personal information on several antiabortion
web sites, the Los Angeles Times reports. The woman is also suing the hospital
that treated her after the abortion, claiming that her medical records were
released without her authorization. |
|
| Guidelines Issued on Patient Privacy Protection |
| 7/6/2001 |
|
|
The Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) today issued the first in a series of guidance materials on new
federal privacy protections for medical records and other personal health
information. The guidance answers common questions about the new protections
for consumers and requirements for doctors, hospitals, other providers, health
plans and health insurers, and health care clearinghouses. It also clarifies
some of the confusion regarding the meaning of key provisions of the rule.
Read The Press
Release
Read The A Fact
sheet summarizing the privacy rule's rights and protections
|
|
| DHHS
Issues HIPAA Privacy Guidance |
| 7/6/2001 |
|
|
Calling it "the first in a series of
guidance materials" on HIPAA, the DHHS has issued a privacy guidance. The
guidance addresses many key issues of concern reflected in the more than 11,000
separate public comments on the final rule submitted to HHS during a 30-day
comment period this March. Topics include consent, the "minimum necessary"
requirement, oral communications and research among others. The guidance also
states that DHHS "can and will issue proposed modifications" to the rule prior
to the compliance date. Read The Full
Story |
|
| Eli
Lilly Cites Programming Error for Privacy Gaffe |
| 7/5/2001 |
|
|
The pharmaceutical maker blames a
programming error for an incident last week in which it accidentally disclosed
the e-mail addresses of about 600 medical patients. Analysts said the mistake
points to the need for health care organizations to assess whether the way they
communicate with patients violates HIPAA medical data privacy rules.
Read the Full
Story |
|
| U.S.
Firms Slow To Sign Up For Privacy Safe Harbor |
| 7/12/2001 |
|
|
An attempt to bridge the chasm
separating European and U.S. privacy laws is picking up steam as U.S.
businesses realize their freewheeling data-collection habits may expose them to
foreign prosecution.
Read The Reuters
article |
|
| Medical Privacy is the Law in Texas |
| 7/3/2001 |
|
|
Health Data Management reports Texas
Gov. Rick Perry has signed legislation establishing medical information privacy
rights in the state. Senate Bill 11 (SB11), modeled after the federal privacy
rule, includes tougher restrictions against the use of identifiable information
for marketing purposes. The legislation gives patients the right to access and
append their medical records, and the right to know how an entity is using
their medical information.
Read the Final
Bill |
|
| Loophole Gives Police Access to Patient's Records Without
Consent |
| 6/30/2001 |
|
|
According to Wired News, a
little-noticed loophole in new medical privacy regulations allows law
enforcement access to medical records without the patient's consent. Will
doctors soon be reading you your rights?
Read the Full
Story |
|
| Court
Requires Notice to Patients Prior to Disclosure of Records |
| 6/29/2001 |
|
|
In the first case of it's kind applying
the new HIPAA privacy regulations to a factual situation, a court considered a
government subpoena in a criminal matter of the medical records of a doctor's.
The hospital that maintained the records resisted disclosure, arguing that
compliance with the subpoena would subject it to civil liability for disclosure
of privileged information. |
|
| AMA
MasterFile & Digital ID System Vulnerable |
| 6/28/2001 |
|
|
The California Medical Association (CMA)
is raising concerns about the American Medical Association's (AMA) MasterFile,
a nationwide physician database, and its digital identification program,
"charg[ing]" that both systems are "open to hacking and unauthorized changes
over the Internet," the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Read the Full
Story |
|
| CHIP
To Democrats: Don't Delay HIPAA |
| 6/28/2001 |
|
|
Believing that if passed, legislation
to delay HIPAA may in effect kill it, the Coalition for Health Information
Policy (CHIP) has sent a letter to key Senate Democrats asking them to oppose
legislation and other efforts to delay the TCS rule.
Read the
Letter |
|
| Half
Billion Privacy Notices Being Mailed |
| 6/23/2001 |
|
|
Facing a July 1 deadline to comply with
new privacy protections, financial firms have sent out an estimated half a
billion privacy notices to their customers. The law also requires the firms to
give customers the chance to opt out of having some information sold to outside
companies. But consumer groups, fearing many are not even going to understand
the limited new rights they do have because many of the notices are legalistic,
confusing and hard to read, said they would ask regulators to step in to make
them easier to comprehend. |
|
| Bogus
Scare Tactics Delay Medical Privacy Reforms |
| 6/13/2001 |
|
|
Medical records once safely housed in
doctors' offices have been too easily collected, sold and disclosed in the
Internet age. Intense lobbying by groups that benefit from the status quo has
delayed reforms, leaving sensitive medical records exposed to marketers,
employers and others who want a peek. Now those delays are being compounded by
the Bush administration's decision to take a fresh look at new federal privacy
rules — just weeks before they were to take effect.
Read the Full
Story |
|
| New
HIPAA Delay Legislation Introduced |
| 5/30/2001 |
|
|
Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) has
introduced legislation to establish uniform, delayed compliance dates for most
of the HIPAA administrative simplification provisions. The bill, H.R. 1975, is
similar to legislation Sen. Larry Craig previously introduced in the Senate.
Craig on May 25 considered pulling his bill from committee and putting it on
the Senate floor for immediate action, but could not muster enough support.
Shadegg’s legislation was referred to the House Energy & Commerce and
Ways & Means Committees. It has 12 co-sponsors, including nine Republicans.
Shadegg is a member of Energy & Commerce and nine co-sponsors are members
of one of the committees with jurisdiction over the bill. The legislation sets
an October 16, 2004, compliance date for HIPAA rules governing transactions and
code sets, identifiers, and data security, or a date 24 months after all final
rules--including enforcement--are issued and provider and payer identifiers are
available for use, whichever is later. The bill excludes the privacy rule and
the previously delayed individual identifier. The American Medical Association,
American Public Human Services Association, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association requested the legislation. Opponents contend the bill could delay
HIPAA implementation for five or more years.
Read the Text of
the Bill |
|
| HIPAA
Requires Upgrade to Millions Of Computers |
| 5/21/2001 |
|
|
A clock is ticking for the nation's
health care industry to upgrade their computer systems, a complicated
changeover that is being compared to Y2K -- both in cost and hype. Bills might
be overpaid, underpaid or not paid at all, some health care officials say.
Claims could be rejected. The wheels of health care could slow down. To some in
the health care industry, this is Y2K-2.
Read the Full
Story |
|
| Health Care IT Agenda Tops HIPAA Survey |
| 2/06/2001 |
|
|
Complying with government regulations
that affect health-care IT systems will be the top priority for information
executives this year, according to preliminary results of a survey from the
Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
Read the Full
Story |
| Medical Records Vulnerable to ID Theft |
| 12/12/2000 |
|
|
The recent revelation that a hacker
broke into the University of Washington Medical Center and downloaded
confidential information on thousands of patients rang alarm bells with privacy
advocates.
Read the Full
Story |
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