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Crico Strategies, the medical malpractice company owned by and serving the Harvard medical community in Cambridge, MA, recommends these remedies for the common causes of obstetrics (OB) claims:
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When an EF-5 tornado, among the biggest ever recorded, hit St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin, MO, the damage was so severe that all the patients had to be evacuated and taken to other hospitals outside the community. Their medical records were accessible, however, and the hospital was providing care again within a week, all because the hospital had adopted electronic health records (EHRs) only weeks before the disaster.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued an interim final rule to adopt the first two in a series of "operating rules" that will standardize the HIPAA standards for electronic administrative/financial transactions.
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Compliance and regulatory officers have until Aug. 1 to comment on a proposed rule that includes a new accounting of disclosures provision that gives individuals the right to receive a report on who has electronically accessed their protected health information (PHI).
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Improved technology is creating an obligation for healthcare providers to recover patient data soon after a disaster, says Gary L. Kaplan, JD, an attorney with the law firm of Thorp Reed & Armstrong in Pittsburgh.
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Unlike the current privacy rule which identifies purposes that might be omitted from disclosure accounting reports, the proposed rule published on May 31, 2011, identifies those purposes for which disclosures must be tracked and reported.
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In spite of increased focus on regulatory compliance, a survey of more than 100 information technology (IT) administrators, managers and executives of healthcare organizations reports ongoing data breaches.
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A poor working relationship with the compliance officer can lead to more than just frustration and the occasional argument, cautions George B. Breen, JD, an attorney with the law firm of Epstein Becker Green in New York City. It also could lead to substantial liability for the healthcare provider.
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As the January 2012 deadline for hospitals to convert to HIPAA Version 5010 quickly approaches, a survey conducted by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) has found that medical practices are lagging in the race to meet 5010 deadlines. In fact, 45.2% of practices report that they have not yet started implementation or software upgrades.
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A good working relationship with the compliance officer will not only avoid squabbles over turf but actually enhance the productivity of both offices, says Timothy E.J. Folk, a producer with The Graham Co., a healthcare consulting company in Philadelphia.
