HITECH Act Mandated Changes

Date: 4 Feb 2010 | Comment (0)

As of February 18, 2010, all HIPAA covered entities (physicians and their employees) will also be under HITECH (Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health) Act. The HIPAA Security Rules require covered entities and business associates to implement and adopt administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure that electronic protected health information (“ePHI”) is adequately protected.

HITECH also includes civil and criminal penalties for violations of HIPAA and compliance audits. These penalties range from $100 to $50,000 per violation based on the nature and extent of the violation and the extent of the resulting harm. With these new compliance responsibilities in an increased enforcement environment at both the federal and state levels, physicians need to quickly take steps to prepare themselves for the first wave of audits.

Covered entities also need to be cognizant of what measures to take to both limit their compliance liability with their Business Associates (BA) and to structure their contractual agreements with BAs to better enable efficient and effective compliance and notification response requirements.

Working with Joan Kiel, PhD, the Allegheny County Medical Society has developed sample policies and an online training module to help ensure compliance with the new HITECH rules. Additional information and registration details are available at http://www.acms.org/training/coveredentity/index.html

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Pay your 2010 membership dues online.

Date: 31 Jan 2010

Renew your Allegheny County Medical Society and Pennsylvania Medical Society memberships online at www.pamedsoc.org/membership. (click renew)

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Highmark loses documents with personal information

Date: 4 Feb 2010 | Comment (0)

Highmark Inc. is in the process of notifying 3,700 customers that papers were lost that included their personal information.

Post-Gazette Coverage

Pittsburgh Business Times Coverage


Ready for HITECH?

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Top 10 Barriers to Electronic Health Records | Physicans News

Date: 4 Feb 2010 | Comment (0)

John Halamka, MD, is Chief Information Officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Chief Information Officer at Harvard Medical School.  He recently asked his students of his healthcare I.T. class at Harvard to read his EHR implementation project and “then develop a list of barriers to EHR implementation in their organizations.”  The result was the following top 10 barriers to successfully deploying an EHR:
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“Pittsburgh Proud” Gala Photographs

Date: 1 Feb 2010


Photographs from the ACMS Foundation gala are now available on the Viglione Photography website.


www.viglionephotography.com

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Health professionals petition FTC for relief from red flags rule

Date: 31 Jan 2010 | Comment (0)

From the American Medical Association

CHICAGO – In light of a recent federal court decision, four national
organizations representing dentists, physicians and veterinarians called
on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today to exclude health
professionals from controversial new regulation intended to combat
identity theft.

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Earthquake in Haiti

Date: 13 Jan 2010 | Comment (0)

From the US. State Department Website.

The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747 (due to heavy volume, some callers may receive a recording). Our embassy is still in the early stages of contacting American Citizens through our Warden Network. Communications are very difficult within Haiti at this time.

Private Offers of Assistance for Haiti Relief Efforts
Anyone wishing to donate or provide assistance in Haiti following the devastating earthquake that struck near Port au Prince on Jan 12, 2010, is asked to contact the Center for International Disaster Information. The Center, operated under a grant from the United States Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and initial support from IBM, has become a valuable resource to the public, as well as US government agencies, foreign embassies and international corporations. CIDI has established a dedicated page to coordinate Haiti support at: http://www.cidi.org/incident/haiti-10a/

You can go online to organizations like the Red Cross and Mercy Corps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.

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Medicare Eliminates Consultation Codes

Date: 6 Jan 2010 | Comments Off

New Year Brings the End of Medicare Consultation Payments
Big changes have arrived with the New Year, thanks to the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS implemented a new rule
on Jan. 1, 2010, for Medicare, eliminating the use of inpatient and
outpatient consultation codes and requiring the use of new and
established inpatient and outpatient visit codes in their place.

Need more information?

The Pennsylvania Medical Society is offering a free webinar to members.
Thursday, Jan. 14
Noon – 1 PM
Reserve your webinar seat now at:
www.pamedsoc.org/consultation

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December Bulletin Available

Date: 5 Jan 2010 | Comments Off

December 2009 Bulletin

Materia Medica
A Comparison of Peripheral Opioid
Antagonists
Michael Corpman, PharmD

Legal Report
New Year’s Predictions for Health Care
Michael A. Cassidy, ESQ

Special Report
Western PA Regional Autism Services,
Education, Research and Training
Ryan Cramer

Feature
2009 ACMS Award Winners
Christina E. Morton

Special Report
2009 Fine Awards Honor Local Health
Care Teams

Special Report
PMS House of Delegates 2009

December 2009 Bulletin

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2010 ACMS Officiers

Date: 1 Jan 2010 | Comments Off

2010 ACMS OFFICERS


John Delaney
John Delaney
President
Leo McCafferty
Leo R. McCafferty
President-elect
Rajiv Varma
Rajiv Varma
Vice President
Amelia Pare
Amelia Pare
Secretary
Kevin Garrett
Kevin Garrett
Treasurer
Douglas Clough, MD - Chair
Douglas Clough
Chair

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