News Briefs
News Briefs
White House says it will tighten records privacy
Expect new regulations from the Clinton administration giving patients greater control over their medical records, The New York Times reported on Aug. 20.
The paper said that the new regulations — to be issued before the Nov. 7 presidential election — will set federal standards requiring doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies to limit the disclosure of personal medical information, according to the paper. Under the new rules, doctors must inform patients about their rights and how their information might be used.
Many payers aren’t happy about the new rules. The Health Insurance Association of America and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield told the Times that the regulations are unworkable and would impose new costs on patients and employers.
Public opinion polls show the American public increasingly wary about the privacy of their medical records. The timing of the new rules, which don’t require congressional action, could help Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign, the Times said.
AHIMA introduces four new Web sites
The American Health Information Management Association in Chicago launched four new Web sites designed to help users understand critical issues in health information.
Each site is initially targeted to four specific practice settings: hospitals and integrated networks, ambulatory care and surgical centers, physician group practices, and managed care organizations. Additional health care settings will be added in the future. All four Web sites can be accessed at www.ahima.org/roi/.
The Web sites are specifically targeted to chief executive officers, chief information officers, chief compliance officers, chief financial officers, and human resource managers. At each site, users will find resources to help them understand key issues in health information, including articles and practice briefs on a variety of health information topics. Topics include coding, compliance, information security, computerized patient records, data usage and quality, reimbursement, and health information management (HIM) best practices. In addition, visitors will learn about the HIM profession, the benefits of hiring certified HIM professionals, and the value of their contributions to health care organizations.
The new Web sites also provide tools to assist in recruiting qualified HIM professionals. A qualifications checklist is available as a quick reference guide on the skills, training, and certifications required of professionals in the HIM field. Users can also find ready-to-use position descriptions and classified ad templates.
Reports assess new Medicare outpatient PPS
HCIA-Sachs, a Evanston, IL-based provider of strategic health care information, is offering reports designed to help hospitals assess the financial impact of ambulatory payment classifications (APCs) — Medicare’s new outpatient prospective payment system. Drawing on a database covering virtually all U.S. hospitals and freestanding centers, the reports will also assist facilities in determining market share of services grouped by APCs and in examining potential growth. HCIA-Sachs officials stressed that the company’s existing products will incorporate outpatient data at the APC level.
The reports were developed in response to client queries about the impact of the APCs, which replace the current cost-based reimbursement for Medicare outpatient services. Under the new APC system, which was implemented Aug. 1, certain procedures will gain or lose reimbursement, while other services, such as physical therapy, will remain unchanged.
The data represents approximately one hundred million Medicare encounters and more than 35,000 facilities nationwide. Further, the information is actionable because it furnishes hospitals with actual, rather than projected, statistics.
Some Internet health care users are cyberchondriacs
A national survey of more than 1,800 users of the Internet for health care information found that users are more proactive health care consumers than nonusers. Some consumers who visit health care Web sites often, however, are less satisfied with their health care in general and more likely to seek alternative treatments.
The study, The Internet Healthcare Project, was conducted by Princeton, NJ’s Consumer Health Sciences (CHS), a provider of consumer health care information for the pharmaceutical industry. The data premiered at the Drug Information Associa-tion Conference, "e-Business and e-Process: Trans-forming the Pharmaceutical Industry," in Boston, and were presented by CHS president, Jane A. Donohue, PhD.
Internet health care users are not only more proactive, they are more likely to ask a doctor for a prescription medication, and are more apt to question physicians about their advice. Those attitudes and behaviors hold true for both frequent and occasional Internet health care information seekers, but are even more extreme for the frequent information seekers.
According to Donohue, many frequent Internet users can also be classified as cyberchondriacs. Many of those people surf the Web for health care information on a daily basis. When compared with the general population, those people are less satisfied with the health care they receive, are generally in poorer health, visit physicians and alternative health providers more often, miss more days of work due to poor health, and are the most likely to seek health care information from a variety of sources.
However, all of the 50 million Americans turning to the Internet for health care information insist that Web sites be reliable, informative, and updated frequently. Those qualities are considered to be very important by more than 80% of respondents.
The study also found that women are more likely than are men to be frequent users of the Internet for health care information. Demo-graphically, Internet health care information seekers are typically better educated, with higher incomes than non-Internet users.
Full results of the CHS Internet Healthcare Project are available for purchase. For more information, contact Consumer Health Sciences at (609) 924-4455 or visit the Web site www.consumerhealthsciences.com.
HIPAA compliance course offered on-line
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) in Chicago is offering a Web-based continuing education course for achieving compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. "How to Achieve HIPAA Compliance" introduces participants to HIPAA administrative simplification requirements, explains how to monitor government actions regarding the requirements, and provides guidance for implementing the required HIPAA standards.
This course covers compliance with HIPAA requirements in seven modules:
• Module I: HIPAA Overview. Reviews the legislative and regulatory process leading to the passage of HIPAA and provides an overview of the requirements.
• Module II: Privacy and Security. Distin-guishes the issue of privacy from security and explains how each is treated under HIPAA.
• Module III: Technical Standards. Explores the necessary technical security standards.
• Module IV: Policies and Procedures. Focuses on the security policies and procedures that HIPAA requires.
• Module V: Identifier Requirements. Reviews the HIPAA identifier requirements.
• Module VI: Code Set Standards. Introduces the required claims and related transaction standards and code sets.
• Module VII: Developing a HIPAA Compli-ance Program. Provides a 10-step plan to achieve compliance.
Professionals in HIM, health information systems, and health care informatics can access the course through the association’s Web-based Interactive Learning Campus by visiting www.ahimacampus.org. The on-line education tool offers users the ability to update their skills and learn new ones in the convenience of their own homes or offices. Campus programs are updated regularly and available 24 hours a day.
The cost of the program, which includes all seven modules, is $600 for members and $750 for nonmembers. AHIMA members receive one continuing education credit per module for a total of seven credit hours for the course. To register for this course, or to find out about other AHIMA online courses, visit www.ahimacampus.org. Once registered, participants can log on as often as necessary to complete each module.
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