New HIPAA Regulations Could Result in Fines for Chiropractors Says Certified Auditor, Dr. Tom Necela of The Strategic ChiropractorPublished: 2010-02-26 18:57:38Author: The Strategic Chiropractor | February 14, 2010Seattle, WA, February 14, 2010 --(PR.com)--
New HIPAA regulations for Business Associates go into effect February
17, 2010 and most chiropractors qualify as covered entities subject to
these new rules. This means chiropractors will have to have a new
Business Associate agreement in place to be compliant with the recently
changed provisions under the privacy and security rules that impact
named covered entities and business associates.
"The first
question a chiropractor will ask is: "Am I a covered entity?” Put
simply, if you conduct transactions in electronic form, you are a
covered entity," said Strategic Chiropractor CEO, Dr. Tom Necela. A
practicing chiropractor, Necela now uses his experience both as a
chiropractor, a former Insurance Claims Analyst and Certified
Professional Medical Auditor to work with chiropractic practices to
improve their business and minimize their audit exposure through better
documentation, coding, billing and compliance.
Examples of
covered entities include chiropractic practices that bill
electronically and maintain electronic patient records. Plus, if a
chiropractic office uses a third party medical billing service, that
firm is considered a business associate. Other examples of business
associates include electronic clearinghouses, transcriptionists and
accountants.
The bottom line of this new ruling is to protect access to the Protected Health Information (PHI) of patients.
To comply with the Business Associate Agreement update chiropractors should:
Make a list of current business associates and vendors
Identify entities with whom the practice shares PHI
Draft new legal agreements for business associates to comply with the new rules
Update HIPAA privacy & security policies
"If
chiropractors are found not to be in compliance during a mandatory
HIPAA audit, they could be fined. Depending on intent, fines range from
$100 to $1.5 million!" said Dr. Necela
For more information
about the new Business Associate Agreement rules and how they affect
chiropractors, go to http://strategicdc.com/blog or for more general
information on HIPAA, visit the Department of Health and Human Services
website at www.hhs.org
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Contact Information:
The Strategic Chiropractor
Dr. Tom Necela
(253) 370-6156
info@strategicdc.com
strategicdc.com
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