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Experience gained when hurricanes hit the coast of Florida in August and September 2004 served the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) well when it came time to respond to the threat of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts in September 2005.
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A web-based system for monitoring bed availability and transferring patients to other facilities helped mitigate the effects of Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, says Jim Craig, director of health protection for the Mississippi Department of Health.
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In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the federal Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights issued a special bulletin regarding "HIPAA Privacy and Disclosures in Emergency Situations."
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Many of the normal operating procedures for Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP) were relaxed to accommodate the emergency health care needs of beneficiaries and medical providers in states devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
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An access initiative at Sutter Health in Sacramento, CA, is helping streamline throughput while placing "the right patient in the right hospital at the right level of care," says Barbara Leach, RN, director of case management for Sacramento Yolo Sutter Health.
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Care decision guides are available on-line
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A patient tracker used throughout the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) had its beginnings when an information technology support person for the emergency department (ED) was asked to replace the "white boards" that were being used to keep up with patients' location.
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Within days of Hurricane Katrina lashing the Gulf Coast states, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) reminded providers through mailed notices and news media announcements that the privacy rule allows patient information to be shared to assist in disaster relief efforts and in providing patients the care they need.
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The Department of Health and Human Services published Sept. 14 an extension to the interim final rule establishing procedures for imposition of civil money penalties on entities that violate HIPAA administrative simplification standards.
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mark McClellan said the federal government will not process incoming non-HIPAA-compliant Medicare claims submitted for payment on and after Oct. 1, 2005. That decision ended a portion of CMS' HIPAA contingency plan that was in effect since Oct. 16, 2003, under which Medicare continued accepting noncompliant claims after the deadline.
