New Patient Rights Under HIPAA - Meeting the new HIPAA rules for Patient Access and Requests for Restrictions - Webinar By MentorHealth May 7, 2013

Overview: New changes modifying the HIPAA Privacy and Security Regulations have gone into place to meet the privacy and security mandates within the HITECH Act in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Covered entities that use electronic health records (EHRs) will need to meet new access and disclosure rules. New regulations around the release of electronic records have created new burdens that your EHR and your medical records department must deal with. And if you are required to have a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, you will need to update that to show all the new rights that patients will have, such as electronic copies, new rights to restrict disclosures, and much more.
Electronic records have new demands placed on them, in both providing access and in restricting some disclosures of health information - the electronic age in health care brings new obligations to serve individuals as well as manage health information for healthcare professionals. We will discuss how disclosures must be restricted in an EHR and review the various ways patient records can be supplied electronically.
The new regulations will be reviewed and their effects on usual practices will be discussed, as will what policies need to be changed and how. We will show what policies and evidence you need to produce if you are audited by the HHS Office of Civil Rights. Now that there is a legislative mandate to audit compliance, and a random audit plan well under way, you need to be prepared to respond to audit requests.
Not only are the compliance rules changed, but the enforcement rules have changed, with a new four-tier violation schedule with increased minimum and maximum fines, and mandatory fines for willful neglect of compliance that start at $10,000 even if the problem is corrected within 30 days of discovery. Violations that are not promptly corrected carry mandatory minimum fines starting at $50,000 and can reach $1.5 million for any particular violation. And any reports of willful neglect are required to be investigated under the law. Even violations for a reasonable cause or with reasonable diligence taken are subject to penalty.
Whereas the former practice of USDHHS has been to audit compliance only in instances where a violation was reported, the law now requires USDHHS to conduct a regular HIPAA compliance audit program. The new audit program is already under way. With the far-reaching changes in the rules and the new enforcement and penalty levels, it’s never been more important to review your HIPAA compliance and meet the new requirements.
This Webinar will help health information professionals understand what they have to do, and when, and what to keep in mind as they move forward, in order to be prepared for compliance with the new regulations. It will provide a comprehensive look at the changes in the law and prepare attendees for the process of incorporating the changes into how they do business in their facilities.

Why should you attend:
The HIPAA Privacy and Security Regulations are changing in ways that affect health care providers and their patients significantly. Patients have new rights of access to and restrictions on the use of Protected Health Information (PHI) by HIPAA-covered healthcare providers, and those providers also have additional changes to the allowable uses and disclosures of that PHI. The new rules are in effect as of March 26, 2013, and enforceable by September 23, 2013.
All HIPAA-covered providers need to review their HIPAA compliance, policies, and procedures to see if they are prepared to meet the changes in the rules. Compliance is required and violations for willful neglect of the rules begin at $10,000.
Changes in marketing regulations are creating new obligations and limiting behaviors that may already be in place.
New regulations around the release of electronic records and the restriction of disclosures are creating new burdens that your EHR and your medical records department must deal with. You will even have to update your HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices to show how you support the new patient rights under HIPAA as amended by HITECH.
The enforcement rules have changed, with a new four-tier violation schedule with increased minimum and maximum fines, and mandatory fines for willful neglect of compliance that start at $10,000 even if the problem is corrected within 30 days of discovery. Violations that are not promptly corrected carry mandatory minimum fines starting at $50,000 and can reach $1.5 million for any particular violation. And any reports of willful neglect are required to be investigated under the law. Even violations for a reasonable cause or with reasonable diligence taken are subject to penalty.

Areas Covered in the Session:
The new regulations will be reviewed and their effects on usual practices will be discussed, as well as what policies need to be changed and how.
We will show what policies and evidence you need to produce if you are audited by the HHS Office of Civil Rights. Now that there is a legislative mandate to audit compliance, and a random audit plan under way, you need to be prepared to respond to audit requests.
The features that must be available in EHR systems and the questions to ask system vendors will be described. The processes for responding to requests for copies of electronic records and restrictions of disclosures will be related to the regulations that require them.
Learn how the new regulations change the way individuals have access to their records.
Find out about how Individuals can now request certain restrictions on disclosures that you must honor.
Learn about the new requirements for disclosers of health information to apply "minimum necessary" standards.
Find out about how new limitations on marketing and fund-raising may change how entities can reach out to individuals.
Learn all about how new audit and penalty requirements increase the need to make sure you are in compliance before HHS OCR knocks on the door.

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
Jim Sheldon-Dean is the founder and director of compliance services at Lewis Creek Systems, LLC, a Vermont-based consulting firm founded in 1982, providing information privacy and security regulatory compliance services to a variety of health care providers, businesses, universities, small and large hospitals, urban and rural mental health and social service agencies, health insurance plans, and health care business associates.

Sheldon-Dean serves on the HIMSS Information Systems Security Workgroup, has co-chaired the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange Privacy and Security Workgroup, serves on the WEDI Breach Notification sub-workgroup, and is a recipient of the WEDI 2011 Award of Merit. He is a frequent speaker regarding HIPAA and information privacy and security compliance issues at seminars and conferences, including speaking engagements at numerous regional and national healthcare association conferences and conventions.

Sheldon-Dean has more than 30 years of experience in policy analysis and implementation, business process analysis, information systems and software development. His experience includes leading the development of health care related Web sites; award-winning, best-selling commercial utility software; and mission-critical, fault-tolerant communications satellite control systems. In addition, he has eight years of experience doing hands-on medical work as a Vermont certified volunteer emergency medical technician. Sheldon-Dean received his B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Vermont and his master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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