Medical Billing Forum
General Category => New! => : oneround February 25, 2010, 05:28:11 PM
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Disclosure Agreement Provision - Effective: February 18, 2010
Patients have the right to pay in full for out of pocket expenses for health care services and request that your practice not disclose his or her medical information to a health plan or other entity. Your practice must comply with this request. Make sure that all your employees are informed about this provision and modify notification or follow-up procedures where applicable. This is information that will have to be shared with all employees in the medical practice that is involved in health information and insurance processing.
Information Breach Notification - Effective February 22, 2010
New provision requiring that HIPAA covered entities such as physicians, hospitals, and health plans notify patients (and Business Associates notify the partnering entity) of any breach of health care information. If a breach involves 500 people or less, the responsible party must notify each affected individual by written notice. This notice must contain the details of the breach, the information disclosed, and the steps being taken by the practice or entity to avoid any future breaches, as well as explaining the rights of the patient(s) in protecting their private healthcare information. If the breach involves more than 500 persons, the Act requires that the Department of Health and Human Services be notified as well as the local media
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Billing companies should have had a revised BAA Agreement signed by 2/22/2010.