Business Associate Causes Massive Breach
How would you like your Protected Health Information (PHI) available via Google search? With a few keystrokes, anyone in the world could learn about your doctor’s heroic efforts to treat your chronic...
View ArticleInsurance Is Not Enough
This week, we learned that people actually use insurance when they get it, but not necessarily in the ways we might hope. A randomized trial in Oregon found that patients who were added to Medicaid did...
View ArticleHIPAA Needs More Than a Pinky Swear
Does HIPAA need to hold providers personally accountable for compliance? The idea has been bouncing around in my head since December, when the government released final regulations for the Volcker...
View ArticleThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in Meaningful Use
“May you live in interesting times,” goes the Chinese curse, or maybe it was Klingon. Either way, these are interesting times for health IT and Meaningful Use. Some news is good, some is bad, and yes,...
View ArticleL.A. Business Associate Causes HIPAA Breach of 165,000 Health Records
A Business Associate working for the L.A. County department of health has caused a massive HIPAA breach of more than 165,000 health records. The breach occurred when eight laptops were stolen from...
View ArticleRip and Replace Your EHR in 2014
You may have noticed that some of your colleagues look like they just stepped off a merry go round. They might careen around the office, mumbling to themselves. You may find them laughing hysterically...
View ArticlePatients Need Meaningful Use
Misdaventures in Healthcare Nothing focuses the mind like a misadventure, to paraphrase Samuel Johnson. Over the last few months, I have seen several doctors, visited labs, and had minor surgery. The...
View ArticleThe Best and Worst of Times for HIT
These are the best of times and the worst of times for health IT. On the negative side, this year has been marked by chaos and delays in the roll-out of new EHR certifications. CMS anticipated that...
View ArticleMedical Mergers Bring HIPAA Breaches
Hospitals and medical groups are in a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions, but many are not protecting themselves from the increased risk of HIPAA breaches that results. The latest example comes from...
View ArticleSafe Harbor is the New ICD-10 Delay
Despite many prayers and tears, it looks increasingly likely that there will be no ICD-10 delay this year. After two years’ worth of previous delays, ICD-10 is set to proceed on October 1, 2015,...
View ArticleMeaningful Use is Getting Easier
Meaningful Use is getting easier. This is a welcome development after a rough couple of years for the program. CMS finally issued the Final Rule for Meaningful Use 2015 in October, after months of...
View ArticleWill CMS End Meaningful Use?
Will CMS end Meaningful Use? If you have been living under a rock, or do not obsess over HIT matters, you may not have heard the news this week that CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt said that the...
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