HIPAA SUMMIT OVERVIEW
Our healthcare system is in critical condition; its costs are out of control, and it's failing to keep us healthy. Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy. We spend twice as much per person to pay for a healthcare system whose results rank last of all industrialized nations. Paper information systems can never solve these problems! A key component of health reform legislation is the push towards ubiquitous electronic health records (EHRs) supported by nationwide health information exchange. This move toward a highly digitized healthcare environment also carries with it new risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of patient data. Higher quality, lower cost healthcare can evolve only if we incorporate interoperable health information exchange and standardized, secure electronic communication of administrative and clinical transactions.
The Administrative Simplification Subtitle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) began the rebuilding process by requiring the adoption of government standards for administrative transactions, code sets, identifiers, security, and privacy. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, (part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) made the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ON C) a part of statutory law and provided financial incentives and support for a roll out of EHR systems and use of electronic clinical information exchanges. In addition, HIPAA requirements for privacy and security were enhanced, and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was directed to undertake "the development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of information and that ensures that each patient's health information is secure and protected." HHS also promulgated regulations requiring the adoption of updated versions of the transaction standards and the use of ICD-10 coding.
Then Congress enacted healthcare reform legislation in the form of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Together, this Affordable Care Act (ACA), sometimes known as "Obamacare," pushes the healthcare industry even further in the direction of expanded use of health information technology. In 2013 HHS published what is known as the Omnibus HIPAA final rule with modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules as required by the HITECH Act and by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA); and to make certain other modifications to the HIPAA Rules to improve their workability and effectiveness and to increase flexibility for and decrease burden on regulated entities. These developments will affect most aspects of healthcare, and everyone connected professionally with healthcare must understand these changes and what will be required in order both to benefit from and to comply with these new legal requirements.
All of these developments create substantial compliance challenges for HIPAA covered entities and their business associates and subcontractors, which are now directly covered by HIPAA. Hospitals, clinical organizations, health plans including health insurance companies, physicians, and all other covered entities must implement, update and train their workforces regarding the HIPAA, HITECH, and Omnibus rules generally, as well as institution-specific policies and procedures including corporate compliance programs. Complex requirements regarding data breaches now must be included in the policies and procedures, and in training programs. Health plans will be at risk for new and significant financial penalties under ACA certification requirements. Outsourcing of healthcare IT is complicated by new requirements for agreements and compliance by contractors.
The HIPAA Summit will provide the most up-to-date information on the new laws and regulations. Comprehensive presentations by leading regulators from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Office for Civil Rights, and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will provide unique insights. Private sector leaders will add practical advice from their many experiences in implementation. This HIPAA Summit will address privacy and security and data breach changes and challenges and the legal and policy issues implicated, as well as electronic health record adoption issues. It will also cover developments and requirements for transactions, code sets, and operating rules and how they are being implemented. Training sessions for HIPAA privacy and security professionals, as well as those responsible for HIT, EHR, HIE, Operating Rules and/or Data Analytics, who intend to apply for certification are also available.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the basics of HIPAA, HITECH, and ACA laws and regulations, and the effect of healthcare reform on health information exchange.
- Obtain up-to-date information about recent changes to the HIPAA regulations.
- Learn what HIT contractors and subcontractors must do to become compliant.
- Outline the next generation of privacy and security compliance strategies, and how these affect electronic health record adoption and interoperability.
- Equip Healthcare Organizations with the knowledge and practical applications to achieve "audit readiness."
- Learn security breach analysis and notification strategies, and understand encryption.
- Understand the operational efficiency opportunities for providers and health plans supported by the operating rules.
- Analyze Industry Readiness for implementation of ICD-10 and operating rules, and articulate strategies for compliance.
- Learn about the operations efficiency opportunities for providers and health plans supported by the operating rules.
- Understand the Medicare program incentives for meaningful use of electronic health records, and the role of regional extension centers.
- Gain expertise in the evaluation, selection and adoption of electronic health record systems.
- Anticipate operational issues and learn best practices in electronic health record implementations.
- Prepare attendees for professional HIPAA privacy and security certification examinations.
- Prepare attendees for professional HIT, EHR, HIE and Operating Rules certification examinations.
Who Should Attend
- Privacy Professionals
- Security Professionals
- Physicians and Other Clinicians
- Hospital and Nursing Home Executives
- Health Plan Professionals
- Employers and Healthcare Purchasers
- State, Regional and Community-Based Health Information Organizations
- Public Health Officials
- Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Medical Device Manufacturers
- Healthcare IT Consultants, Contractors, Suppliers and Vendors
- State and Federal Policy Makers
- Health Services Researchers
- Academics
- Chief Executive Officers
- Chief Operating Officers
- Chief Technology Officers
- Chief Financial Officers
- Compliance Officers
- Health Law Attorneys and Accountants
- Medical Directors
- Managed Care Professionals
- Medical Group Managers
- Data Managers
- Ethics Officers
- Health Insurance Executives
- Government Agency Employees
- Health Administration Faculty
- Accountable Care Organization Personnel
- Financial Treasury Services Executives
- Revenue Cycle Managers
- Health Information Exchange participants
