Roger Steven's Blog – July 2017 Archive (6)

Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) –popularly called Obamacare –came into existence, there has been an exponential increase in the number of physician practice acquisitions. Some of the reasons that can be ascribed for this phenomenon are these:

-        Physician practice acquisitions are an opportunity for healthcare providers in consolidating and…

Carrying out audits is among the most important requirements for any organization that handles Protected Health Information (PHI). HIPAA hosting providers, who implement safeguards in the manner specified in the HIPAA Privacy Rule, must be included in these audits. The indispensability of audits…

Stark Law compliance is now more than just a compliance issue. It has grown to become an Enterprise Risk Management matter, if the substantial awards and settlements in recent enforcement actions are anything to go by. For healthcare organizations that develop and implement provider contracts; managing their compliance and enterprise risk by ensuring that…

The fact of about 120 million individuals being affected by HIPAA breaches in 2015 highlights two important points:

1. There is a mad demand for these records in the black market, which is why they are being targeted to this extent. Any wonder that PHI is in greater demand in the black market than even social security and credit…

When people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) –called just autism –enter college, they are up against challenges that are unique and peculiar to the group. They need to be understood for their special needs, because they enter college at a sensitive age. There is an onus on the part of the other people in the college, such as peer students and staff and those in…

It goes without saying that preparing for HIPAA enforcement is of crucial importance to organizations. The reason: Last year saw a spike in the settlement payments ordered by HIPAA. There were as many as seven settlements of a value of over $1 million each. Of these seven, one was for $5.5 million, another was for $3.9 million, and yet another for $2.75 million. These constituted a part of a dozen or so overall resolutions settlements. These results point to the fact that HIPAA is continuing…