Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act news from FierceEMR
News
HHS dials back requirements, offers flexibility in final meaningful use rule
In releasing the final rules for Stage 1 of the "meaningful use" Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive program on Tuesday, federal officials have pulled back from the more aggressive plan outlined in... Read more...
eHealth Initiative finds significant gains in EMR adoption since 2007
Health IT adoption is gaining steam, but many have been unable to articulate the value of EMRs within their organizations and, significantly, to the public, a new report suggests. Still, people are... Read more...
HHS says providers, HIEs must get consent to share substance abuse records electronically
Two HHS agencies have published answers to frequently asked questions in an attempt to clarify how records of patients' treatment for alcohol and drug abuse can be shared electronically. A federal... Read more...
Federal workgroup wants encryption even for direct HIE
The privacy and security workgroup of the federal Health IT Policy Committee is recommending that providers encrypt any personally identifiable patient information whenever they share data with... Read more...
Survey: Half of IT professionals say health data is less secure than a year ago
Nearly half of IT security professionals responding to a recent survey believe that their personal health information is less secure than it was a year ago, according to security and compliance... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: HHS seeks input on HIPAA EMR disclosure rules
HHS is asking for public guidance on forthcoming rules about accounting for disclosure of protected health information in EMRs. The department's Office for Civil Rights on Monday published a request... Read more...
OCR sets rules for sharing HIPAA breach information
The HHS Office for Civil Rights, which is responsible for enforcing HIPAA privacy regulations, has detailed six new "routine uses" for reports of breaches of protected health information. In a notice... Read more...
Survey: Business associates not prepared for new HIPAA breach notification rules
About one-third of companies considered business associates of healthcare providers under HIPAA were not even aware that they now are equally responsible as providers for protecting electronic... Read more...
HHS raises maximum HIPAA privacy fines to $1.5 million
The maximum civil fine for violating HIPAA privacy regulations will jump to $1.5 million per provision from the current $25,000 under an interim final rule published by HHS this week. And no longer... Read more...
Four out of five healthcare IT pros had at least one data breach last year
Even IT professionals in hospitals are concerned that their organizations aren't doing enough to safeguard electronic patient information, according to a newly released survey. The Traverse City,... Read more...
