HIPAA and Computers – Vigilance Required - Blogs

Today I posted an article about Providence Health & Services, a Seattle-based non-profit health system, fined $100,000 as part of a settlement agreement with federal regulators for HIPAA violations relating to computer operations involving Protected Health Information (PHI) of over 386,000 patients. Using computers is a necessity if hospice organizations want to operate with the required financial efficiencies that will ensure their survival in the marketplace, especially at a time when Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is reducing hospice reimbursement rates. Also as more and more for-profit companies are entering the hospice care field, competition is only going to get tougher. Attention to the bottom line will have an ever-increasing significance. Is Your Hospice in Compliance? The number of ways that a hospice can unknowingly violate HIPAA with respect to EPHI is numerous. Having a good Information Technology (IT) staff is a good start but does your IT staff have a good understanding of the HIPAA Security Rule? I frequently communicate with volunteer coordinators/managers on this issue and it is clear that hospices have many questions about what you can and cannot do with computer EPHI data. The questions cover a wide range of topics, many of which some hospices are completely unaware that such topics even warrant consideration. Here are some examples of questions to ask yourself, if you are managing a department that is using computers at your hospice: 1. Do you use e-mail to transmit patient information to or from a volunteer? 2. Do you use e-mail attachments to transmit patient information to or from a volunteer? 3. Do you attempt to get around HIPAA by sanitizing (i.e. anonymizing) patient data before sending it by e-mail? 4. Do you store patient data on removable storage media such as a USB stick? All of these questions represent commonly occurring situations and all of them could result in your hospice being faced with criminal penalties for violations of HIPAA. Need Help with HIPAA? Contact HVA The Hospice Volunteer Association (HVA) is working with hospices to help them reduce the potential HIPAA violations risks associated with PHI related computer operations. HVA recently initiated a program called the Patient Data Vault (PDV) which allows hospices to securely transmit, store and retrieve Electronic Protected Health Information (EPHI).

Recently Published!!
by Maryclaire Torinus

Surviving Hospice: A Chaplain's Journey into the Big Business of Dying Plus: How To Find a Trustworthy Hospice

This narrative is an insider’s look into the hijacking of hospice by private equity and professional investors and the subsequent harm to patients, their families, and to the interdisciplinary clinical teams. It was released by a NYC publisher on October 31, 2023. For sale on Amazon.

The author, a hospice chaplain, tells end-of-life stories of her patients who were harmed by financially-motivated policies. This is a book for anyone who is embarking on making a choice about a hospice for their loved one, working chaplains, those in training, and those interested in what dying is like with a hospice who places patients as their primary stakeholders.

Maryclaire's experience working for an owner who sold to a private equity firm helped her to realize that the reputation and viability of hospice is in jeopardy. Her goal is to alert all who love hospice to rid it of professional investors.

— Stacy Juba, author, editor, and award-winning health journalist

"Powerful, beautifully written, and eye-opening, this book spotlights the inner workings of a multi-billion-dollar industry and the effect on patients, families, and hospice staff. The author shares poignant accounts of hospice at its best and worst and the hard-hitting truths she learned on her journey. A must-read for family members exploring hospice care."

— Laura Kukowski, CEO, editor, For-Profit Badger Hospice, LLC

"Maryclaire Torinus speaks with authority, providing this essential handbook for choosing a hospice care team and why that selection really matters."

— Greg Schneider President, HVA, co-author of The Changing Face of Hospice Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care

"When I first found out that Maryclaire Torinus was writing this book, I immediately contacted her because in my 25+ years supporting hospice volunteers, I have seen a gradual decline in the quality of care volunteers are permitted to provide the dying and their families. There are a variety of reasons for this that I describe in the Foreward of this book. Maryclaire provides invaluable insights that everyone should know, along with solutions to help others make the right choice in choosing a hospice."

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The Changing Face of Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care
Contributing Author - Greg Schneider
HCF Creator & HVA President

Volunteers have a long history of supporting the development and delivery of hospice and palliative care in most countries throughout the world. As hospice and palliative care services anticipate significant increasing and changing demands, it is recognized that volunteers have a vital role to play in supporting the future delivery of services. However, as society changes so too does volunteering.

This multi-author text explores the complex phenomenon of hospice and palliative care volunteering from an international perspective and considers the influence on volunteering of different cultures and constructs. The book also explores the likely impact of changes in hospice and palliative care on volunteers and considers how and why volunteering itself is changing and the subsequent implications for managers, organizations, and policy makers.

This book does not attempt to offer solutions to the many challenges ahead, but rather poses questions that may help to reflect on new possibilities and opportunities.

Review

"The book is well laid out and written in an easy to use manner. It begins with setting the scene of volunteering and the modern context of hospice and palliative care. The book is well referenced and covers a range of topics making for a balanced and thought provoking read." -- Nursing Times

"If you run a palliative care volunteer service, or a palliative care service with a volunteer program, you need to read this book. Not only will it give you an in-depth view of where things are at, but also how things are changing in countries from around the world." -- Roger Woodruff, IAHPC Newsletter

Editors

Ros Scott, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Dundee, UK and Co-chair, EAPC Task Force on Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care. She is a researcher and voluntary sector consultant with a background in organisational development, research and the development of volunteering and of palliative care organisations.

Steven Howlett, Deputy Director at Roehampton Business School, London, UK where he teaches undergraduate and post graduate courses in management and ethics. Previously he was Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Volunteering research where he completed many studies on volunteering.

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Comments

Frances Shani Parker September 30, 2008 at 6:58pm

Greg, this is really good information that requires commitment to compliance by all levels of workers. Protecting health information must be embedded in the culture of the institution. Ongoing education is the best way to keep everyone knowledgeable, especially with staff turnover and the frequency of technological advancements. The IT staff's understanding of the HIPAA Security Rule is particularly important if they are part of the monitoring team.

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