This 90-minute webinar will be addressing how practice/business managers (or compliance offers) need to get their HIPAA house in order before the imminent audits occur.  It will also address major changes under the Omnibus Rule and any other applicable updates for 2018 and beyond.   

Areas also covered will be texting, email, encryption, medical messaging, voice data and risk factors as they relate to IT. 

The primary goal is to ensure everyone is well educated on what is myth and what is reality with this law, there is so much misleading information regarding the do’s and don’ts with HIPAA – I want to add clarity for compliance officers and what you guys need to do and how to best implement your HIPAA program based on over 18 years of personal experience working with Federal auditors, state auditors, and corporate auditors. 

We will go through multiple scenarios that are commonly faced by compliance officers and how to manage these situations

I will also speak to real life litigated cases I have worked where HIPAA is being used to justify state cases of negligence – THIS IS BECOMING A HUGE RISK!

In addition, this course will cover the highest risk factors for being sued as well as being audited (these two items tend to go hand in hand)

Why should you attend ?

Join me in this 90-minute webinar where we will get into the nitty-gritty about the roles and responsibilities of a HIPAA Compliance Officer

Do you have an affective HIPAA compliance program?  Do you know what needs to be done to satisfy the requirements?

New laws, funding, and enforcement mean increased risk for both business associates and covered entities – 2018 is going to be a record year for enforcement and fines – 2019 will be no different.

HIPAA Omnibus – Do you know what’s involved and what you need to do?

What does Omnibus mean for covered entities and business associates?

Why should you be concerned?

Court cases that are changing the landscape of HIPAA and patient’s ability to sue!

TRIAL ATTORNEYS ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!!

It is important to understand the new changes going on at Health and Human Services as it relates to enforcement of HIPAA for both covered entities and business associates.  You need to know how to avoid being low hanging fruit in terms of audit risk as well as being sued by individuals who have had their PHI wrongfully discloses due to bad IT or internal administrative practices. 

Areas Covered in the Session:

• Updates for 2018 and beyond
• Requirements of Compliance Officers
• New definition of what constitutes protected health information
• Real life litigated cases
• BYOD
• Portable devices
• Business associates and the increased burden
• Emailing of PHI
• Texting of PHI
• Federal Audit Process
• HIPAA and suing – how this works
• Risk Assessment
• Best resources

Who will benefit?

• Practice managers
• Any business associates who work with medical practices or hospitals (i.e. billing companies, transcription companies, IT companies, answering services, home health, coders, attorneys, etc)
• MD’s and other medical professionals
• Practice Managers Associations

The CMS regulations and interpretive guidelines for medical records have undergone many changes in the past few years. Our expert will provide a crosswalk to those changes and highlight hot topics in the section, including verbal orders, history and physicals, standing orders, and discharge planning standards. This program will also include proposed changes in the Hospital Improvement Rule, new HIPAA information from the Office of Civil Rights, changes to the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records Privacy Law, and documentation elements in an electronic medical record.

The Joint Commission has changed many of their standards to comply with the CMS CoPs, and now medical record standards apply to lab and x-ray departments. Make sure to keep up with regulation changes so you\'ll be prepared for complaint validation surveys from CMS.

Why should you Attend?

1. Explain CMS\' specific informed consent requirements.
2. Describe when CMS and TJC require history and physicals.
3. Describe CMS standards for preprinted orders, standing orders and protocols.

Session Highlight:

1. Breech Notification Law
2. AHIMA practice guidelines
3. Autopsies
4. Incident reports
5. Author identification
6. Staff education
7. Changes to HITECH
8. OCR on HIPAA
9. Confidentiality & privacy memo
10. The IMPACT Act
11. Tag 454, 457 & 458
12. Medical record content
13. Discharge planning standards
14. TJC changes
15. Grievances
16. Standing orders & protocols
17. Completed medical records

Who will benefit:

Anyone involved with or interested in medical record regulations and standards, including but not limited to: Health Information Management Staff and Directors, Chief Compliance Officers, Radiology Directors, Hospital Legal Counsels, ICU Nurse Directors, OR Nurse Directors, CCU Nurse Directors, Outpatient Directors, ED Managers, Patient Safety Officers, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CMOs, CNOs, Quality Improvement Staff, Physicians, Nurses (all levels), Consumer Advocates, Risk Managers, Legal Counsel and Regulatory Affairs Staff.

This training program will discuss in detail the CMS requirements for hospitals to help prevent the hospital from being found out of compliance with the grievance regulations. It will also cover a new law under the OCR Section 1557 which requires the hospital to have a new process for handling discrimination complaints.

Why Should You Attend:

If a CMS surveyor showed up at your hospital tomorrow would you know what to do? Are you sure you are in compliance with the entire grievance requirements by CMS, OCR, and the complaint standards by the Joint Commission or your accreditation organization? Do you have a grievance committee? Do you provide a written response as required by CMS? The CMS grievance requirements have recently been a frequent source of investigation. In fact, it was the third most common problematic standard for hospital. The grievance standards are located in the patient rights section.

This online training will talk about the Office of Civil Rights requirements under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. The hospital must have a grievance procedure and compliance coordinator to investigate any grievances alleging noncompliance with this law including discrimination. There must be a process to promptly resolve any grievance prohibited by Section 1557.

This training program will also discuss the CMS Hospital CoPs, the Joint Commission and DNV Healthcare standards on complaints and grievances. How these cross walk to the CMS grievance interpretive guidelines will also be discussed. This is a must attend for any hospital. Staff should be aware and follow the hospital grievance and complaint policy. The policy should be approved by the board. Staff should be educated on the policy. This program will cover what is now required to be documented in the medical record.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss that any hospital that receives reimbursement for Medicare patients must follow the CMS Conditions of Participation on grievances. (This is true whether the hospital is accredited by Joint Commission, HCFA, CIHQ, DNV Healthcare or not)
• Identify that the CMS regulations under grievances includes the requirement to have a grievance committee
• Discuss that the Joint Commission has complaint standards in the patient’s right (RI) chapter and DNV grievance standard in the patient rights chapter
• Recall that in most cases the patient must be provided with a written notice that includes steps taken to investigate the grievance, the results, and the date of completion
• Describe that the Office of Civil Rights requires hospitals to have a process to handle grievances related to discrimination under Section 1557

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• Background on CMS CoPs
• How to find current copy
• CMS deficiency memo
• How to find changes in the hospital CoPs
• Issuance of final interpretive guidelines
• OCR grievance requirements under Section 1557
• TJC standards
• Recent standing order memo
• Preprinted order sheet changes
• Federal Register, interpretive guidelines, survey procedure
• P&P requires to ensure patients have information on rights
• Prompt resolution of grievances
• CMS definition of grievance
• Definition of staff present
• TJC definition and six elements of performance on complaints
• P&P with all the required elements
• Form to collect information
• HIPAA requirements if request not from patient
• Need to determine person is authorized representative
• Billing issues and information on patient satisfaction
• Telephone complaints after discharge
• Customer service and complaints
• Audits and PI required
• Policy to encourage staff
• Process for prompt resolution
• Requirement to inform each patient on how to file grievances
• Board’s responsibility in grievance process
• Grievance committee required
• Referral to QIO and State Department of Health
• Changes to QIOs process
• P&P on grievances
• Written notice to patient requirements
• Time frame for responding to grievances
• 7 day rule
• System analysis approach
• What should critical access hospitals do?
• DNV Health NIAHO standards on grievances
• OCR Section 1557 on complaint process
  • Policy required
  • Notice to patient
  • Grievance process
  • Appeal to CEO or board
  • Time lines for filing grievance on discrimination
• Job description for compliance person

Who Will Benefit:

• Consumer Advocates or Patient Advocate
• Healthcare Consumer Advocates
• Chief Operating Officer (COO)
• All nurses with direct patient care
• All nurse managers
• Joint Commission Coordinator
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
• Chief Nursing Officer (CNO)
• Chief Medical Officer (CMO)
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Board Members
• Quality Improvement Coordinator
• Risk Managers
• Legal Counsel
• Nurse Educator
• Patient Safety Officer
• Emergency Department Manager
• Nurse Managers/Supervisors
• Compliance Officer
• Clinic Managers
• Medical Department Nurse Manager
• Surgery Department Nurse Manager
• OR Nurse Director
• ICU Nurse Director
• CCU Nurse Director
• Outpatient Director
• HIPAA Privacy and Security Officer
• Director of Business Office
• Lab Director
• Policy and procedure committee
• Ethicist
• Anyone involved in the implementation of the CMS grievance, DNV, OCR, or Joint Commission complaint standards

Medicare advantage program is a government scheme which is applied on the basis of disability or age. To begin with, it covers almost one-third of the whole USA. These plans are regional and mostly offered by insurance companies in the states. These plans basically depend on the factor of variability. It is a must that these plans should cover the traditional Medicare cover. There is also a high chance of these programs being expanded from basic coverage where other services also added. Those services can be dental, drugs, eyeglasses along with the possibility of venturing into medical and surgical services. The costs of these programs can be less than that of traditional one.

There are certain challenges with the healthcare providers regarding Medical Advantage (MA) programs. These issues can be faced by various providers like physicians, hospitals, skilled nurses, and others like home healthcare providers. Coding, billing and reimbursement activities are many a times governed by the contract between the provider and the MA program. This happens when a given provider is a part of the network.

In certain scenarios, there can be a claim filed by a healthcare provider with a MA plan. This plan can be filed across the country where there is no relation between the provider and the MA plan. 

Three different perspectives are discussed in this workshop:

1. Medicare beneficiary of the MA plans,
2. Providers coding, billing and reimbursement relative to MA plans,
3. Medicare’s relationship and compliance related to MA organizations.

The provider relationship, especially the physicians and hospitals, are given more importance in this program. A claim can be arbitrated under a traditional Medicare rule if it filed by a healthcare provider who is not a part of the MA plan’s network. Sometimes, claims can be adjudicated and paid in hazy way if there is variability in the coverage and medical policies.

Possible expansion of Tele health benefits as listed in the November 1, 2018 Federal Register will also be discussed.

• What is Medicare Advantage?
• What are the different kinds of MA programs?
• Why are Medicare beneficiaries interested in the MA programs?
• What kinds of services are covered by MA programs?
• Do physicians and hospitals contract with MA organizations?
• How do MA programs pay for services of physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers?
• What if a physician or hospital is not contracted with a MA program?
• What kind of appeal processes is available when physicians and hospitals disagree on payment or coverage?
• How does Medicare view these MA programs?
• What is this risk adjustment process?
• What kind of compliance issues are there with MA programs?
• How is the CMS expanding Tele health services for MA programs?

Webinar Objectives: 

1. To understand Medicare Advantage programs work.
2. To appreciate the different forms and formats of MA programs.
3. To appreciate why the MA programs are so popular with Medicare beneficiaries.
4. To understand how physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers contract with and become part of networks.
5. To appreciate the process of filing claims to MA programs with which the provider has not relationship.
6. To understand how claims are adjudicated and payment is made for both contracted and non-contracted situations.
7. To appreciate the appeals process when there are coverage and/or payment disagreements.
8. To understand how the Medicare program views Medicare Advantage.
9. To explore compliance issues surrounding payment to MA organizations.
10. To review expansion of Tele health services for MA programs.

Agenda of the session: 

1. Medicare Advantage Overview
   • How The MA Programs Work
   • Different Kinds of MA Programs
   • How Payment Is Made
   • Contracted Providers
   • Risk Adjustment
2. Medicare Beneficiaries and MA Programs
   • Coverage Concerns
   • Hospice Coverage
   • Cost-Benefit Analysis
   • MA Program Termination
3. Healthcare Provider Relations
   • Physicians and Hospitals Contracting with MA Programs
   • Contracted Providers Filing Claims with MA Programs
   • Non-Contract Providers Filing Claims with MA Programs
   • Appeals Process for Disagreements
   • Claims Adjudication and Claims Payment
   • Primary Care Versus Specialized Services
   • Special MA Program Concerns
     • Hospice
     • Medicare Secondary
   • Special Coverage
4. Medicare Perspective With MA Programs
   • Risk Adjustment Process
   • Payment by Medicare to MA Programs
   • Compliance Concerns and Audits
   • Expansion of Tele health for MA Programs
   • RAC Involvement
5. Sources for Further Information.

Prerequisites for Participating:  General knowledge of healthcare providers including physicians, clinics, and hospitals.

Suggested Attendees:  Managed Care Analysts, Compliance Officers, Compliance Analysts, RAC Coordinators, Clinical Directors/Managers, Physicians, Practitioners, Nurses, Information Technology Personnel, Computer Analysts, Health Information Management Personnel, Charge master Coordinators, Revenue Cycle Specialists, and Internal Auditors.

Patients with limited English proficiency experience higher-than-average readmission rates and encounter more adverse events compared to English-speaking patients. It's imperative for hospitals to equip their interpreters with the right tools to meet the needs of every patient.

In this session, attendees will learn about the new civil rights law from Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act as it applies to hospitals and other healthcare providers. Our expert will discuss CoPs on Section 1557 and proposed changes under the Hospital Improvement Act. She will review case studies to discuss the impact of perceived discrimination on patients seeking care and how health care providers can address that issue. This program will provide education requirements to ensure employees follow Section 1557, including a list of each state’s 15 taglines.

After this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Describe TJC standards on 'patient-centered' communication.
2. Identify that the Office of Civil Rights is the main enforcer of Section 1557.
3. Review that hospitals must have a person in charge to work with patients who file a grievance related to nondiscrimination.

Agenda topics:

Target Audience:

Anyone involved with or interested in Section 1557 regulations and standards, including but not limited to: CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CMOs, CNOs, CE Directors, Quality Improvement Staff, Physicians, Nurses (all levels), Board Members, Clinic Managers, Outpatient Directors, Compliance Officers, CMS Liaisons, TJC Liaisons, Registration Staff, Safety Officers and Staff, Ethics Committee Members, Consumer Advocates, Risk Managers, Legal Counsel, Discharge Planners, Case Managers, Hospice Staff and Regulatory Affairs Staff.  

Patient Engagement is a cornerstone of quality patient care and Web Sites and Social Media are indispensable patient engagement tools.

Provider Web Sites and Social Media are inexpensive, easy to build and almost universal today. HIPAA law still applies but is misunderstood by most health care providers and business associates in relation to patient communications. 

Why should you Attend:-

This webinar provides the guidance needed to use Web Sites and Social Media in healthcare and stay compliant with HIPAA. 

The HIPAA Rules, HHS/OCR guidance, Resolution Agreements provide a simple, easy to use blueprint using your Web Site and Social Media to engage patients and comply with HIPAA.

This session will explain the HIPAA Rules for Web Sites and Social Media. The secret is - HIPAA Rules are easy to follow, step-by-step - when you know the steps. 

Areas Covered in the Session:-

• A clear explanation of the HIPAA Rules that apply to Health Care Provider Web Sites and Social Media
• How to keep your Web Site and Social Media dynamic, effective and follow simple HIPAA Rules
• HIPAA Rules for Web Sites and Social Media are clear, unequivocal and easy to follow. It only takes one look at a Health Care Provider's Web Site or Social Media page to find violations
• What to look for on your Web Site or Social Media site -how identify violations - and how to fix them
• How to use advice from marketing professionals in a way that complies with HIPAA. Remember it is the Covered Entity who is responsible for HIPAA compliance - and liable for violations
• Patient Reviews? What Health Care Providers should, should not and must not do

Who Will Benefit:-

• Hospital Trustees
• C-Suite Executives
• HIPAA Compliance Official
• HIPAA Privacy Officer
• HIPAA Security Officer
• Health Information Technology Supervisor
• Practice Manager
• Risk Manager
• Dentist
• Optometrist
• Chiropractor
• Physical Therapist
• Podiatrist

One errant email or text message can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in HIPAA fines and penalties and it doesn't matter who you're communicating with: patients, staff, providers or with insurance carriers.

A violation is a violation. And if you think it couldn't happen to you, think again. Text and email HIPAA violations are not always caused by what you might think. For example, you may think you are safe as long as you don't text patients - you're wrong. Many violations generally occur between providers messaging their staff. You can avoid getting hit with a HIPAA audit and violations with a few simple changes to your current processes. But you have to be able to identify the danger zones.

National HIPAA expert, John Brewer, will walk you through how to escape being hit with HIPAA emailing and texting violations. John is conducting an online training session that will provide you with the proven strategies you need to stay out HIPAA hot water, HIPAA Compliance: Avoid Text/Email Danger Zones - you'll be surprised by what can land you in serious trouble. 

Why should you Attend:-

Text and email are a staple of communication today. This electronic communication can simplify life and complicate your HIPAA compliance. Without the correct policies and procedures in place, your practice is at risk to crippling fines due to improper electronic communication from your office. 

Areas Covered in the Session:-

• Choose the Safest Communication Method: Patient Portal vs. Email Communications
• Protect yourself from HIPAA Violations with one simple Item Added to your Emails
• Identify when you can Send PHI via email - or if you ever Should
• Stop the Worst Internal Text message HIPAA Violators from sinking your Practice
• Prevent Gmail, Yahoo! Mail or the infamous AOL from ending in Catastrophe
• Improve HIPAA security for all of your Messaging Easier than you thought Possible

Who Will Benefit:

• All Positions can Benefit with Added focus for HIPAA Security Office
• Practice Manager
• Business Associates

How to Guarantee Safe & Sanitary Food Packaging

You have a variety of packaging to choose from to store and transport food today. But with that flexibility comes significant risk. After all, improper and unsanitary food packaging can result in food adulteration and lost shelf time—and cause human health issues.

Learn to properly vet the packaging you choose in this instructive webinar from food safety expert John Ryan. The production and use of safe and sanitary food packaging requires the same controls as the food itself, he explains. In this session, Ryan delivers key insights into the systems you need to establish to guarantee safe and sanitary food packaging.

After attending, you will have thorough knowledge of recommended standards, pertinent laws, and increased-safety-risk practices to avoid. You’ll also be equipped to better evaluate packaging suppliers, choose the right solutions for your products, and maintain sanitized tools in your own facility. Don’t let poor packaging standards be the reason your operation makes headlines.

Session Highlights

This how-to session will cover:

• Recommended standards & critical laws/rules
• Poor practices to avoid
• Training options and resources
• Packaging supplier evaluation tips
• Self-assessment of packaging needs & sanitary practices
• Zone concepts 
• Robotic packaging equipment options

Who Should Attend

This program is designed for farm-level packaging shippers and growers, harvest supervisors, packaging house supervisors and managers, distribution center operations personnel, processors, carrier supervisors and managers, internal safety and quality team members, purchasing agents, internal and external auditors who review facility quality assurance and food safety programs, customers who want to understand best practices that they should require of their packaging suppliers, and sanitation specialists and teams.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) hospital CoPs has a section on both board and medical staff. This includes information on credentialing and privileging requirements, implementing Medical Staff (MS) bylaws and rules and regulations, hospitals in systems, board responsibility for quality and safety, sharing a board in hospital systems, policy development, history and physicals, and more. 

This program is timely because of the increase number of deficiencies received which are over 1,900. There are 2019 proposed changes under the transparency bill which will be discussed. This includes proposed changes to the history and physicals.

Many changes were made in April of 2015 and some hospitals are still struggling to ensure compliance. CMS allows a hospital system to share a medical staff which CMS refers to as a unified and integrated medical staff. Boards must directly consult with an individual who is responsible for the conduct of the medical staff at least twice a year. 

The Medical Staff can credential the dietician to order diet and the RD can be a member of the medical staff or just C&P without being a member of the Medical Staff. The board and Medical Staff sections will be discussed in detail.

After this webinar participants will be able to:

1. Discuss that CMS has a section related to the board and medical staff in the hospital CoPs.
2. Describe that hospitals can have a separate medical staff or a unified shared integrated medical staff.
3. Recall that CMS will allow the Medical Staff to credential qualified dieticians to order the patient’s diet.

Agenda topics:

Target Audience:

Anyone who is involved in understanding and complying with both the CMS hospital conditions of participation on board and medical staff requirements. This includes president of the medical staff, chief medical officer, board members, physicians, medical staff office staff, medical staff coordinator, regulatory compliance, compliance officer, Joint Commission coordinator, quality improvement staff, CNO, senior leadership team, patient safety officer, nurse educator, health information management director and staff, pharmacist, nurse managers, nurses, policy and procedure committee, risk managers, dietician, radiology director, hospital legal counsel, outpatient director, pharmacist director.

In this webinar, we will examine how to determine if the services you provide place you under 42 CFR Part 2. We will explore the means for making sure that substance abuse treatment information receives the appropriate protections.

Overview:-

For much of healthcare, HIPAA sets the standards for how to manage uses and disclosures of patient information, known as Protected Health Information (PHI).

But when it comes to information related to the treatment of substance use disorders, regulations of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) under 42 CFR Part 2 prevail, including rigorous controls on the release and re-release of patient information. 

Why should you Attend:-

While HIPAA rules apply to all Protected Health Information, the rules under 42 CFR Part 2 place special limitations on substance use disorder-related information. HIPAA has controls on the release of health information, but once it's released under HIPAA, the information is allowed to be used according to the regulations and obligations of the receiving party. 

With information under Part 2, the obligations to protect the information travel with the information, placing recipients under obligations to provide further protection under Part 2 rules. 

For decades, the rules under 42 CFR Part 2 have required that each and every release of information have a consent in place, but new rules allow release to "others involved in my care," including re-release of information without a new consent. 

While this new option promises to simplify the release and re-release of information, implementation requires that it be possible to report to the individual a list of parties to whom the information has been released. The accounting for these disclosures is similar to the HIPAA accounting of disclosures in principle, but applies to treatment disclosures all the way down the chain of releases. 

HIPAA allows a number of disclosures, for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations purposes, without consent from the individual being treated. 

SAMHSA rules, on the other hand, require consent for every disclosure or re-disclosure, and if the proper consents aren't obtained, the provider can be in violation of the rules and subject to penalties. 

Areas Covered in the Session:-

• What HIPAA allows, what SAMHSA requires, and the differences will be explained
• We will Examine how to Determine if the services you provide place you under 42 CFR Part 2
• We will explore the means for making sure substance abuse Treatment Information Receives the Appropriate Protections
• The Consent and Release Requirements under HIPAA will be explained
• The consent and Release Requirements under 42 CFR Part 2 will be explained
• Re-release of Information released under 42 CFR Part 2 will be discussed
• Sharing of Information with Family and Friends in an overdose Incident will be explored
• Requirements for Providing an accounting of disclosures of Part 2 Information will be Explained
• Challenges in Managing mixed records with Some Part 2 and some non-Part 2 Data will be Discussed

Who Will Benefit:-

• Compliance Director
• CEO
• CFO
• Privacy Officer
• Security Officer
• Information Systems Manager
• HIPAA Officer
• Chief Information Officer
• Health Information Manager
• Healthcare Counsel/Lawyer
• Office Manager