Last week, a federal court in Illinois encountered another example of unexpected events causing problematic privacy and data storage implications for a healthcare company. The non-profit organization responsible for maintaining the MetroChicago Health Information Exchange (the HIE) filed suit against its information technology support contractor and the contractor’s owner to prevent the contractor’s plan to destroy all client data after … Continue Reading
Category Archives: Technology
Subscribe to Technology RSS FeedShhh….OCR Releases New HIPAA Audit Protocol
Just in time for the Phase 2 audits, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) quietly posted the updated HIPAA Audit Protocol on its website. The new audit protocol has been updated to include business associates who became subject to HIPAA following the 2013 HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule. The protocol covers Privacy Rule, Security Rule … Continue Reading
CMS Announces Enforcement of EHR Payment Adjustments in 2015
On December 17, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that there would be reductions in Medicare reimbursement for health care providers who do not meet the CMS electronic health record (“EHR”) incentive program’s meaningful use requirements. This announcement comes in the wake of CMS’ decision in October to extend the hardship exception deadline – an exception … Continue Reading
Social Media Use for Clinical Trial Recruitment
Social media can be an effective and easy way to connect with friends and professional contacts. However, it can also serve as a tool for institutions and principal investigators involved in enrolling subjects in clinical research to connect with prospective patients and subjects for clinical trial recruitment.
The research shows that, to-date, there has not been a significant amount of … Continue Reading
35 Days and Counting – R.I.P. Windows XP
Effective April 9, 2014, Microsoft will no longer provide technical support or security updates for the Windows XP operating system. According to Microsoft, personal computers running Windows XP after April 8, 2014 should not be considered to be protected.
This announcement means that covered entities and business associates under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) … Continue Reading
FDA Launches Medical Device ID Requirement
On September 24, 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized a new rule requiring medical devices to bear special ID numbers. The numbers, called Unique Device Identifiers or UDIs, will identify the manufacturer, the specific model of a device, and other information such as batch or lot codes, serial numbers, and expiration dates. The UDIs are intended to improve … Continue Reading
EMR Market Continues to Grow While Practitioner Satisfaction Decreases
According to a new report from healthcare market research firm Kalorama Information, the market for Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) was $20.7 billion in 2012, up 15 percent from $17.9 billion in 2011. The EMR market includes revenues from EMR and Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) systems as well as directly-related services such as installation, training, servicing and consulting. A significant … Continue Reading
