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, as implemented in the HIPAA Omnibus Update rule published January 25, 2013 and the recent changes to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments. Covered entities and particularly those that use electronic health records (EHRs), will need to meet the new access and disclosure rules. And if you are required to have an HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, you need to update that to show all the new rights that patients have.
New 2016 guidance from the HHS Office of Civil Rights will be explained, so that access can be provided according to the rules. Issues on provision and denial of access, as well as fees and other topics, will be discussed. Medical laboratories are now required to provide individual access to test records and will need to have processes to authenticate those who request information and the means to ensure that the correct results are provided to authenticated individuals.
HHS has recently issued guidance on issues relating to access to mental health records and the records of minors, clarifying what information may be provided or not, depending on the information and other circumstances. The guidance also includes information on dealing with law enforcement requests for information on alleged violators of the law.
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 may need to produce if you are audited by the HHS Office of Civil Rights, which has already indicated that compliance with the rules on patient access to records is a significant problem that is likely to be a focus of the 2016 HIPAA Audits.
Not only are the compliance rules changed, but the enforcement rules have changed, with a new four-tier violation schedule with increased 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. We will discuss what is necessary to avoid penalties and make sound compliance decisions.
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 in compliance with the new regulations. It will provide a comprehensive look at the changes in the rules on access and prepare attendees for the process of incorporating the changes into how they do business in their facilities.