Name: Relias Media
Price range: $

Defining ‘opt-out’ policies for HIPAA privacy rule is a challenge for providers

As hospitals design policies in response to demands of the new privacy rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), access managers are faced with implementing the fine points of the procedures that will be required.

Tighter control exercised over religious information

With Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance and post-Sept. 11 security concerns in mind, Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus has revamped its policies and procedures regarding the release of information on patients religious preferences, says Shannon Haager, assistant director of patient access services.

Providers customize form for giving notice of rights

Notifying patients of their privacy rights under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is one of the tasks that fall most squarely onto the shoulders of access managers.

HIPAA privacy regulation sparks varied solutions

Hospitals are running the gamut of possible solutions as they struggle to interpret the provisions of the HIPAA privacy rule, says Tony Mogavero, director of physician services for St. Petersburg, FL-based John Putnam International, a company that provides web-based and teacher-led education for access personnel.

Happy employees a high priority at Providence

Recruiting and retaining qualified employees is an ongoing concern for access managers, who are in the position of offering comparatively low wages for a job that just keeps getting more complicated.

Centegra modifies new ABN form to best suit needs

Hospitals that have long designed and used their own advance beneficiary notices (ABN) to inform patients that a service is not likely to be covered by Medicare now should be using a form released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Hospital slashes waits with bedside registration

Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn, MI, is using the slogan were an emergency room, not a waiting room and backing up its claim with an offer of free theater tickets to patients who wait more than 30 minutes.

Don’t make changes yet, EMTALA expert cautions

While proposed changes to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) would give hospitals more leeway in certain areas, its important to remember that those changes arent yet in effect, cautions Stephen Frew, JD, a longtime specialist in EMTALA compliance.

Smallpox vaccinations imminent for hospitals

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently approved a plan that calls for smallpox immunization of 510,000 health care workers.

News Briefs

News Briefs: New JCAHO process will debut in 2004; Feds offer database for record disclosures; Web site answers FAQs about HIPAA; Patient records linked as part of warning system; Hospital web sites gain in popularity.

Hospital Access Management – December 1, 2002

December 1, 2002