By Kevin B. O’Reilly What’s the news: The AMA is urging House Republican and Democratic leaders to work together on a bipartisan basis to prevent arbitrary across-the-board Medicare cuts that threaten the financial viability of physician practices during the pandemic. The AMA supports the provisions of H.R. 1868, which would stop scheduled cuts totaling 6%. Why it’s…
The technology must be further developed and tested to improve hand hygiene compliance. By: Samara Rosenfeld The use of an electronic wearable device did not change hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers, according to the findings of a new study. Still, the technology increased the duration of hand rubbing and the volume of alcohol-based handrub…
Sharp HealthCare’s $70,000 civil monetary penalty with OCR is the sixteenth enforcement action under the HIPAA Right of Access Initiative and the second announced this week. By Jessica Davis California-based Sharp HealthCare, doing business as Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Centers (SRMC), has agreed to a corrective action plan and to pay the Office for Civil Rights a $70,000 civil…
In collaboration with IBM Watson Health Although the deadline to meet federal price transparency requirements has passed, many U.S. hospitals are still working to ensure compliance with the regulation. To comply with the price transparency rule, which took effect Jan. 1, hospitals must publicize privately negotiated, payer-specific rates online. Hospitals must post a machine-readable file with…
By Narendra Sahoo Cybercrimes have been prevalent in the financial industry for years. But, today hackers have shifted their focus towards the data-rich healthcare industry as their lucrative target. Despite stringent norms and regulations in place, data protection has been a huge challenge for the healthcare industry. With numerous data breach cases surfacing each year,…
Compliance is a serious, enforceable matter – and must be properly addressed in the context of the workplace challenges and changes that have emerged amid the pandemic. By Louise Rains-Gomez This piece was co-authored with Thomas Hiney. The modern workplace is in the midst of a massive transformation. An estimated forty-four percent of employees are…
By Robert Snell McLaren Health Care Corp. agreed Tuesday to pay a record $7.75 million penalty to settle a federal investigation into officials distributing opioids and other drugs without prescriptions, the largest amount in U.S. history involving allegations of drug diversion. The penalty settles a years-long investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration into whether…
While many covered entities and business associates met HIPAA-required breach notification compliance requirements, an OCR audit revealed a host of PHI security failures for most providers. By Jessica Davis The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights released an audit report on HIPAA compliance in the sector from 2016 to 2017 based…
With the serious incline in what is known as “burnout,” it is now important as ever that we make sure we have a core group of people surrounding us that we can depend on. Schwartz came up with an activity where all there is, is “a room, an agreement of confidentiality, and willingness to share…
by Heather Landi Could 2021 be the year that healthcare finally gets smart about cybersecurity? Many in the industry say real change needs to happen as the situation has become a matter of life and death. Hospitals are facing a new wave of ransomware attacks even as they also struggle to confront a nationwide surge…