WHAT THE ***? IMPORTANT!! ALL MUST READ! - UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Are we screwed???

The HITECH Act: Will You Be Fine, or Fined?

FRANKLY, OUR GOVERNMENT SUCKS BIG TIME!  I AM STILL USING A WORK COMPUTER, IS THAT GOOD OR NOT???

Under the new Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) that takes effect this upcoming February, you as a transcriptionist could now be directly liable for any private health information (PHI) that is stolen or somehow reaches the public domain. That could include any transcriptions you produce that are emailed to the wrong recipient, inadvertently posted to your website, or even lost by a sub-contractor.

Fines range from $100 to $1.5 million per violation.

But some say that what is most overlooked with the new act is that transcriptionists and other “business associates” (defined by the Act as basically anyone who handles PHIs) will be much more likely to be fined and/or audited than ever before.

Under the new Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) that takes effect this upcoming February, you as a transcriptionist could now be directly liable for any private health information (PHI) that is stolen or somehow reaches the public domain. That could include any transcriptions you produce that are emailed to the wrong recipient, inadvertently posted to your website, or even lost by a sub-contractor.

Fines range from $100 to $1.5 million per violation.

But some say that what is most overlooked with the new act is that transcriptionists and other “business associates” (defined by the Act as basically anyone who handles PHIs) will be much more likely to be fined and/or audited than ever before.

But because each state also has their own set of laws, the best thing you can do is consult with a lawyer in your state who specializes in HIPAA and/or healthcare issues.

Generally speaking though, it is a good idea that you have the basics in place like:

• Lock your computer and the room that contains it outside of office hours
• Use email encryption
• Add a confidentiality statement to the bottom of your emails
• If you are using an online service to backup your files, make sure it is secure. Better yet, invest in an external hard drive as your backup (about $100) and keep that locked as well.

Also, you may want to develop a HIPAA compliance statement for your website, much like your Privacy Policy, which outlines your commitment to safeguarding PHIs. This could be useful during an audit (or even in avoiding an audit) since it will indicate to your auditor that you are serious about HIPAA and HITECH compliance.

Lastly, there are some courses that may help you by going over the details of the HITECH Act, and give you some ideas on how to best safeguard any PHIs you handle.