HIPAA Breach Notification Rule - What you must do to Comply?

With the HITECH Act and Omnibus Rule's requirement to report certain breaches of healthcare information privacy and security, covered entities and their business associates must now report certain HIPAA breaches to the Department of Health and Human Services. Some of these reports have resulted in seven-figure fines civil money penalties (CMP) but failure to self-report is itself a violation that can result in a CMP. Knowing how to avoid breaches that could result in a CMP and/or result in required reporting is critical.

Areas Covered in the Session:-

• Introduction
• HIPAA's civil money penalties
• Civil money penalties and settlements for not handling breaches of healthcare information security and privacy properly.
• Liability for failing to report a breach.
• What is a security incident and how do you handle it?
• What is a security breach and how do you handle it?
• What is a reportable breach (to the individuals involved and to HHS)?
• How do you mitigate the harm of a breach to your patients/clients and your practice?
• How do you handle an Office for Civil Rights investigation of a breach?
• What are the penalties for violating HIPAA?
• What is a security incident?
• What is a security breach?
• What is a reportable security incident/breach?
• How do you determine what incidents/breaches are reportable?
• How do you mitigate (lessen the harm of) breaches?
• Rules for disclosures to the Press.
• Rules for handling patient complaints.
• Rules for responding to investigations.

Why should you attend?

The presenter, a healthcare attorney, author, and consultant has successfully represented eight covered entities who have been investigated for an alleged HIPAA violation. He has also consulted for more than one thousand covered entities and business associates from major federal and state agencies and major hospitals and physician practices to one-clinician offices. He has literally written the book on HIPAA compliance and has been an expert witness in HIPAA court cases. As a former malpractice attorney, an AV-rated (preeminent and highly rated for ethics by the Martindale-Hubble legal rating organization) attorney and former military judge, he is uniquely qualified to guide the healthcare industry into cost-effective HIPAA compliance.

Not knowing and following the disclosure rules can be costly. Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital settled for $999,000 for the unauthorized disclosure of patient information during an ABC television filming. Previously, New York-Presbyterian Hospital had settled in association with the filming of "NY Med" and Allergy Associates of Hartford, P.C., settled for improperly disclosing patient information to a reporter. Memorial Hermann Health System agreed to pay $2.4 million for adding a patient's name to the title of a press release. Complete P.T., Pool & Land Physical Therapy, Inc. settled a violation of the marketing rules for $25,000 for posting testimonials from patients without their authorization.

Further, failure to properly handle complaints and investigations can be costly as well. Cignet Healthcare suffered a $4.3 million civil money penalty for not handling patient complaints about a lack of access to their records and not handling the subsequent HHS investigation properly.

Who can Benefit:-

• HIPAA Compliance Officers
• HIPAA Security Officers
• HIPAA Privacy Officers
• Healthcare IT Officers
• Cfos, Ceos, Coos, Cios
• Human Resources Directors
• Business Office Managers
• Administrators
• Medical Records Personnel
• Health Information Management Professionals
• Health Care Attorneys
• Patient Accounts Managers
• Billing Services
• Physicians
• Dentists
• Pharmacists
• Physical and Occupational Therapists
• Mental and Behavioral Health Professionals
• Speech and Language Pathologists and Audiologists
• Nurses, Chiropractors, and Business Associates
• HIPAA Compliance Officers
• HIPAA Security Officers
• HIPAA Privacy Officers
• Healthcare IT Officers
• Cfos, Ceos, Coos, Cios
• Human Resources Directors
• Business Office Managers
• Administrators
• Medical Records Personnel
• Health Information Management Professionals
• Health Care Attorneys
• Patient Accounts Managers
• Billing Services
• Physicians
• Dentists
• Pharmacists
• Physical and Occupational Therapists
• Mental and Behavioral Health Professionals
• Speech and Language Pathologists and Audiologists
• Nurses, Chiropractors, and Business Associates