Thanks to everyone that attended our HIPAA Compliance Workshop on Wednesday, September 11th.  We enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces and meeting some new people as well.  The workshop was a huge success with over 100 in attendance.  Each practice received a 3-ring Compliance Binder full of examples, forms, and templates to take back to the office and begin to implement and get on the road to compliance. 

The goal of these workshops is to help physicians and administrators by giving them the tools they need to meet the requirements of the new HIPAA and HITECH rules.  There is a great deal of confusion about the new rules and many office managers are feeling overwhelmed with the process.  The Compliance Workshop, according to the attendees, helped them to get a handle on the most important aspects and work toward achieving compliance.

One of the participants commented on his way out at the end of the workshop: “This was a very informative and educational event.  I learned more here in a few hours than I’ve ever learned from weeks of trying to sift through the information and regulations on my own.”

While the Keane Group sponsored the workshop, the presenters are experts in their fields.  Diane Robben, Attorney and Shareholder at Sandberg, Phoenix & Von Gontard, shared her legal expertise and focused her part of the presentation on the Privacy areas of HIPAA.  On the security side, Eric Humes, CEO of Keystone IT, did an excellent job interpreting the complex HIPAA regulations and helping participants to understand where to begin in their practices.

Both Humes and Robben emphasized each practice’s need to do their best to achieve compliance by the deadline of September 23, 2013.  But they also acknowledged that even if everything is done correctly there is always a chance of a government audit and recommended purchasing a Medefense Plus & eMD policy to protect against many government regulations and cyber liability.  After the compliance deadline audits can begin randomly in every state.  This type of insurance policy, available through Keane, covers Cyber Liability, Loss of Data, Privacy Breaches, HIPAA violations, HITECH violations, RAC Audits, EMTALA, and other regulatory risks.  The coverage is priced very reasonably and is strongly recommended.

Keane is working with Keystone IT and Sandberg, Phoenix to schedule additional workshops in other areas.  We’ll let you know!

Please contact your Keane Group representative if you have any questions: 800-966-7731.