|
FootZine,
Volume 1 |
| Hello again! I should take care of the formalities first, and repeat that this broadcast is not affiliated with or sanctioned by ASPMA, and is not sponsored by anyone at all. If you do not wish to receive further broadcasts from me, please just reply to the above address and let me know. Now I can say thank you to everyone who has written to me with support and encouragement over the last several weeks. I really appreciated hearing from you, and have even made some new acquaintances. I hope to be able to keep sending the same kind of information as before, and of course your letters about whatever questions, answers or concerns that you would like to share with your peers. This first issue will include the third in the series of HIPAA articles from Ray Posa. (The first two are still available at the ASPMA web site, on the "Showcase" page.) The letters I received indicated that you appreciate the kind of information that was presented in the NewsFlash . I see no reason to change that, and will be glad to post your notes about work available or wanted and about upcoming meetings in your area; articles like the ones that were featured first in the NewsFlash and then on the web site's "Showcase" pages; practice management tidbits; thoughtful quotes; and maybe even some new things that we didn't get to include before. I have a new web site available to archive the new articles and other information. Please bookmark this web address: http://home.attbi.com/~gaylepmac/Gayle-webpage_1.htm The preliminary pages on the site are Home, FootZine, Links, Calendar, Feeture Article, and Networking. I hope to develop each of them further, with your help and involvement. Please take a look around when you have a chance. This new effort really is for you, because you asked for it, so I'm open to your suggestions. Please send me your ideas about what you would like me to include here and on the web site, and I'll do my best to get it done. ~ Gayle *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* How Does My Practice Comply with HIPAA Raymond F. Posa, MBA I just bought this great HIPAA Compliance manual off the Web. Now I am covered, right? Well, no. Any off-the-shelf HIPAA manual is going to be generic; your compliance manual needs to be specific to your practice. The ready-made manuals are a starting point; they will help guide you and make you aware of the aspects of HIPAA that you will need to address in your practice. Some of the compliance manuals are logbooks for you to record incidents and events and may get you by in the short term. Some manuals are a type of checklist, asking yes and no questions. Don’t be fooled into thinking that an answer of yes to a question is enough. Have a full explanation of why you are compliant or why you are not. Then for every question with which you are not compliant, have a written response as to how you will address the shortcoming. Keep a log for each issue to document the progress you are making on it. One of the critical aspects of HIPAA compliance is to document everything and provide audit trails. Compliance is going to involve quite a bit of up-front labor to get everything in place, but after the initial implementation is done the ongoing maintenance will not be too onerous. This seems like a lot of work, but think of it as a parachute. You may never need it, but when you do, nothing else will do. The same applies to your HIPAA compliance: if you ever run afoul of the regulations, there is nothing short of outstanding documentation that will do. In this age of electronic automation, there is no reason to keep your compliance information in a ledger or notebook. There are several good HIPAA software tools that make the compliance procedure easy. Some of the things to look for are complete gap analysis surveys. These will lead you through the HIPAA regulations and make sure you address all of the regulations that apply to your practice. Second, it should have mitigation tracking. In the areas where you are not compliant you want to be able to state your remedies and be able to track their progress until you reach compliance on those issues. Third, you will want to have an incident-tracking log. You want to be proactive and be able to show that when incidents do occur you are on top of it and have addressed the issue in a timely manner. Finally, it should have full report capabilities. You will be collecting a large amount of data; you want to be able to extract the information in a meaningful way. This will also make reporting and documenting for Government agencies a snap. Finally, many of these regulations are broad in their scope and the key to limiting your liability is to be able to document a good faith effort to comply with the regulations. There will be no one solution to any of these compliance issues. As long as you can justify your approach and document it, you will significantly reduce your risk. By: Raymond F. Posa, MBA Technology Advisor to the American Academy of Podiatric Practice Management President, R. Francis Associates Any questions or comments can be addressed to Mr. Posa by E-mail: Rposa@Rfrancis.com *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* A reminder to readers in Washington State that the WSPMAA Free Fall Seminar will be a week from now, October 5, 2002, at the Kindred (formerly 5th Avenue) hospital. The day-long program is indeed free to WSPMAA members, and costs $35.00 for non-members. For more information, email Heather Schafer, PMAC, at HeatherPMAC@aol.com . *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* "Do not attempt to do a thing unless you are sure of yourself; but do not relinquish it simply because someone else is not sure of you." ~ Stewart White *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* A Practice-Building Thought: How often do you congratulate a parent or otherwise recognize their child (your patient) for being exceptional? One of my early employers, Bernie Hersh, DPM, did just that. He composed a letter that he would send to parents of a child who was a particularly good patient, thanking them for the pleasure of having such a pleasant (compliant, obedient, delightful, etc.) youngster in the practice. The parents are very pleased and proud, and the kids often outdo themselves to be even more-so next time. Even a verbal acknowledgement is appreciated and effective when it's sincere. *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* *_* Thanks to Ray Posa for continuing the HIPAA series, and to Lori Fannin, DPM, for sharing from her great collection of quotes. Thanks to Michael Johnson for constructing a web site from the ground up in no time flat. And thanks again to all of you who wrote asking me to keep bringing you a forum for sharing. I missed hearing from y'all! So please, feel free to write! ~ Gayle *_* *_* *_* Copyright 2002 Gayle S. Johnson, PMAC All Rights Reserved. DISCLAIMER: Acceptance and publication of any letter, article, news item or advertisement does not necessarily constitute or imply approval or endorsement by myself of the product, idea, or content therein. I reserve the right to edit or to not publish any material received. Any health-related information is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice or a substitute for the advice of a health care professional. Information pertaining to legal matters should not perceived as legal advice, nor should discussion about such issues as Medicare and billing be considered as definitive. All content is presented as being only the opinions of the contributors and is for educational purposes only. To Subscribe or Unsubscribe, simply send an email request to me at: gaylepmac@attbi.com |
| Subscribe to FootZine |