WEDI PRECONFERENCE: The Thirteenth National HIPAA Summit will open on Sunday, September 24, 2006 with a special WEDI preconference symposium entitled "Security and Privacy Issues in Electronic Health Records Acquisition and Implementation."

THE SUMMIT: Healthcare privacy and data security has become one of the major policy, technology and operations issues in American healthcare. HIPAA Compliance is not only complex, but also extremely costly as healthcare moves to electronic data interchange and the Internet and beyond to a variety of new health information technology initiatives. The HIPAA Summit conference series provides a road map to understanding the complex requirements of federal and state law and illuminates strategies for compliance. Through an expert faculty of 75 and over 30 sessions, the Thirteenth National HIPAA Summit will go well beyond the simple recitation of the federal HIPAA law and regulations.

Of course, the Summit will provide the most up-to-date and sophisticated information on the status and construction of the HIPAA regulations through the presentations of the leading HIPAA regulators from the Department of Health and Human Services. The Summit will focus on the crucial issues of the implementation of the transactions, code sets and identifiers and the security rule, and will feature practical case studies from the field, including presentations by leading privacy, security and compliance officers from around the country. The Summit will address the complex financial, operational and technical issues that must be addressed not only to comply with the technical requirements of the law, but also to integrate new technologies in order to enhance the efficiency, quality and accessibility of healthcare services.

CORE POSTCONFERENCE: Following the adjournment of the Summit on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 27, 2006, a special post conference workshop entitled "CORE Post conference Workshop: Implementing Phase I CORE Operating Rules to Achieve Electronic Transactions for Eligibility and Benefits (270/271)" will be featured.

PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION TRAINING AND EXAMINATIONS: Following the adjournment of the Summit on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 27, 2006, two special post conference professional certification training symposia will be offered. The first session will offer training for the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) certification. The second will focus on training for Certified Professional in Electronic Health Records (CPEHR) and Certified Professional in Health Information Technology (CPHIT). The CIPP, CPEHR, CPHIT and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification examinations will be offered.