Compliance Corner | HMC Experts

$70K OCR Penalty for Sharp Health Over HIPAA Right of Access Failures

Sharp HealthCare’s $70,000 civil monetary penalty with OCR is the sixteenth enforcement action under the HIPAA Right of Access Initiative and the second announced this week.

By Jessica Davis

California-based Sharp HealthCare, doing business as Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Centers (SRMC), has agreed to a corrective action plan and to pay the Office for Civil Rights a $70,000 civil monetary penalty over two potential violations of the HIPAA right of access standard.

The enforcement action is the sixteenth made under the Right of Access Initiative since its ...

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Compliance, Health, Medical, Medical News Updates, Security, World News

Hospital price transparency compliance: Challenges and tips

In collaboration with IBM Watson Health

Although the deadline to meet federal price transparency requirements has passed, many U.S. hospitals are still working to ensure compliance with the regulation.

To comply with the price transparency rule, which took effect Jan. 1, hospitals must publicize privately negotiated, payer-specific rates online. Hospitals must post a machine-readable file with all items and services offered and display prices of 300 shoppable services in a consumer-friendly format.

Five takeaways:

1. Compliance with the machine-readable file component is low across the country. An ...

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Compliance, Health, Medical, Press Releases

How Does Artificial Intelligence Help in Data Protection and HIPAA Compliance?

By Narendra Sahoo

Cybercrimes have been prevalent in the financial industry for years. But, today hackers have shifted their focus towards the data-rich healthcare industry as their lucrative target. Despite stringent norms and regulations in place, data protection has been a huge challenge for the healthcare industry. With numerous data breach cases surfacing each year, it comes as no surprise that cybersecurity is today the top priority for the healthcare industry. The growing incidents have significantly raised concerns about data protection ...

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Compliance, Health, Medical, Security, Technology, Telehealth

HIPAA and remote work: Top compliance risks to address

Compliance is a serious, enforceable matter – and must be properly addressed in the context of the workplace challenges and changes that have emerged amid the pandemic.

By Louise Rains-Gomez

This piece was co-authored with Thomas Hiney.

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Compliance, Health, Medical, Security, Technology, Telehealth

McLaren Health and feds reach record $7.75M settlement of drug allegations

McLaren Health Care Corp. agreed Tuesday to pay a record $7.75 million penalty to settle a federal investigation into officials distributing opioids and other drugs without prescriptions, the largest amount in U.S. history involving allegations of drug diversion.

The penalty settles a years-long investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration into whether officials at the Grand Blanc-based health system violated federal drug laws by illegally distributing powerful pain medication central to the nation’s opioid crisis.

The allegations primarily involved pharmacies at McLaren hospitals ...

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Articles, Compliance, Health, Medical, Medical News Updates, World News

OCR: Healthcare HIPAA Compliance Report Finds PHI Security Failures

While many covered entities and business associates met HIPAA-required breach notification compliance requirements, an OCR audit revealed a host of PHI security failures for most providers.

By Jessica Davis

The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights released an audit report on HIPAA compliance in the sector from 2016 to 2017 based on reviews of selected healthcare covered entities and business associates, which revealed several protected health information security failures.

Under HITECH, ...

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Compliance, Health, Medical, Medicare, Security

A simple strategy helps doctors fight burnout. Could it work for the rest of us?

With the serious incline in what is known as “burnout,” it is now important as ever that we make sure we have a core group of people surrounding us that we can depend on. Schwartz came up with an activity where all there is, is “a room, an agreement of confidentiality, and willingness to share and to listen.” By creating a space that is open and safe, coworkers are able to unpack suppressed feelings ...

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COVID-19, Health, Medical

From weaponized AI to threats against the vaccine rollout, here are 6 cybersecurity trends to watch in 2021

by Heather Landi

Could 2021 be the year that healthcare finally gets smart about cybersecurity? Many in the industry say real change needs to happen as the situation has become a matter of life and death.

Hospitals are facing a new wave of ransomware attacks even as they also struggle to confront a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases. There was also a recent report out of Germany of ...

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Compliance, COVID-19, Medical, Security, Technology

How Hospitals Are Handling Compliance In A Resource-Constrained Environment

By Nick Culburtson

CEO of Protenus, leveraging AI to reduce risk and improve patient trust for healthcare systems across North America.

This past year, healthcare has experienced unprecedented obstacles and struggles, but it also has displayed its unparalleled strength. In a pandemic or national emergency, healthcare should always favor accessibility to data and collaboration in order to foster data exchange — even if there is some risk. It’s those data linkages ...

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Compliance, Health, Medical, Technology, Telehealth

Merit Medical to Pay $18 Million Over False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Violations

In mid-October 2020, Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (MMSI) agreed to pay $18 million to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by paying kickbacks to physicians and hospitals to induce the use of MMSI products.

This case is somewhat unique because the qui tam suit was brought by the company’s former compliance officer.

Background

Charles Wolf, MD was the Chief Compliance Officer ...

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Compliance, Health, Medical News Updates, World News

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Sharp HealthCare’s $70,000 civil monetary penalty with OCR is the sixteenth enforcement action under the HIPAA Right of Access Initiative and the second announced this week.

Compliance is a serious, enforceable matter – and must be properly addressed in the context of the workplace challenges and changes that have emerged amid the pandemic.