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Congrats on surviving another HIMSS conference! We know the show is a bit overwhelming so we thought we'd help out by putting together a quick review on the hot topics. Whether it be a continuum of care, patient population, or interoperability, there's always one buzzword that stands above the rest. In the case of HIMSS19, we actually came across three: Patient Engagement, Data Blocking, and FHIR.
Ben Henson
In what is believed to be one of the larger HIPAA breach settlements in recent memory, health insurer WellPoint has agreed to settle with HHS for $1.7M stemming from a 2009 and 2010 incident where WellPoint impermissibly disclosed the ePHI of over 600,000 individuals through an unsecured online application. During its investigation, OCR found that WellPoint had not enacted the appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards mandated under HIPAA.
Krishna Kurapati
The COVID-19 pandemic has, for the time being, redefined how the world operates. With billions of people around the globe under strict “stay-at-home” orders, modern life has come to seem archaic. With millions of American businesses have been put on hold, while the nation attempts to slow the spread of the virus. Due to the high contagion rate of the respiratory illness, and the lack of clear effective treatment, the healthcare system has been flooded with hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients.
Ben Henson
As regular readers of the qliqSOFT blog are now aware, the HIPAA Omnibus changes have been in effect for just over two weeks. In the wake of the September 23 compliance deadline, HIPAA compliance should be on the minds of most covered entities even more than usual, and rightfully so – HIPAA data breaches not only sacrifice the trust you’ve established with your patients, but also they’re extraordinarily expensive.
Krishna Kurapati
One week. That’s all that remains between now and September 23rd, the date at which the HIPAA Omnibus regulations go into effect. Covered entities under the law should have already completed most of the long-term compliance work under regulations – e.g., updating their Business Associate Agreements, revising their Notices of Privacy. Practices, completing a detailed risk assessment – but the biggest change that goes into effect in seven days is the shift in a presumption in what constitutes a breach.
Krishna Kurapati
Your hospital system or eligible provider’s office doesn’t supply mobile devices to its staff or pay for technology solutions like standard mobile data and SMS texting services. So, you don’t have to worry about mobile when creating your HIPAA Risk Assessment, right? You couldn’t be more wrong. Just because you are not providing your staff and physicians with mobile applications doesn’t mean they aren’t using them to transmit and store PHI. And the fact that these systems are NOT directly under your Health IT staff’s control makes them MORE of a risk for a breach – and more necessary to include in your Risk Assessment.
Krishna Kurapati
The first line of defense in preventing hacking is a secure password. Unfortunately, IT administrators and website security and management companies know that educating their users on the definition and necessity of a strong password often falls on deaf ears. Most users opt for convenience and familiarity when they aren’t forced to change passwords that contain strong character and symbol combinations frequently.
Ben Henson
Today, healthcare chatbot technology caters to the needs of patients and patient communication to enhance their care delivery experience. This same technology enables you to automate your emergency room (ER) intake workflow to capture key patient information necessary to provide service. The chatbot can go to work for you before the patient arrives at the ER. The chatbot can also help a patient en route by providing information such as directions to the ER, a map of the facilities, wait times, and more.
Ben Henson
Recent studies suggest that COVID19 disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. Although healthcare disparities are not a new topic, the current pandemic and recent research have brought to light the severity of the disparities that still exist today.
The Omicron variant has caused an extreme surge of patients across the U.S. According to a recent article by ABC News, the number of COVID-19-positive Americans hospitalized is now nearing a pandemic high of more than 138,000.
It's no secret that clinician burnout has been at an all-time high since the pandemic began. However, new survey findings suggest that improving work-life balance could significantly help improve employee job satisfaction.
The global home healthcare industry is valued at over $200 billion and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8 percent between now and 2027. Unexpectedly, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the widespread implementation of telehealth and home healthcare visits.
Ben Henson