U.S. Office for Civil Rights Launches Phase 2 of HIPAA Audits

 On March 21, the federal Office for Civil rights (OCR) announced the start of the next phase of audits under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

According to OCR, audits will be extend to all types and sizes of organizations required to follow HIPAA rules, including business associates of healthcare providers.  The 2016 audits will primarily be desk audits, although some on-site visits will be included.

Those selected for an audit will receive an email, asking for contact information.   The contact person or office will then receive a pre-audit questionnaire.

Here is something especially important to know:

“Communications from OCR will be sent via email and may be incorrectly classified as spam,’’ the agency said in its announcement.  “If your entity’s spam filtering and virus protection are automatically enabled, we expect entities to check their junk or spam email folder for emails from OCR.”

MyHIPAAGuide.com subscribers may click here to read details of the OCR announcement. Information includes:

·         Sample letter to auditees

·         Pre-screening questionnaire

·         Sample template entities may use to develop their list of business associates

·         Details of the audit process

Reminder: The Hardship Exception Application Deadline is Now July 1

Under newly defined provisions, you can claim a hardship exception for issues related to insufficient time to meet Meaningful Use reporting requirements for 2015, relating to the use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs).

As you may recall, CMS delayed issuing a final rule on 2015 reporting requirements until last fall. Providers across the nation complained, saying they did not have enough time to make the necessary shift to new reporting standards.

This new hardship provision acknowledges that. Those who apply for the exception will need to sign a sworn statement, attesting to difficulties due to time constraints.

But the rest will be easy. In its FAQ, CMS says it will not require providers or hospitals to submit documentation for any hardship category, and it will not review supporting documentation on a case-by-case basis.

Hardship application forms and instructions are available to subscribers on MyHIPAAGuide.com. Go to Tools in the menu bar, then click on Download Center in the pull-down options. You will see the hardship downloads on the left side of the Downloads Center page.

Announcement from CMS

CMS Issues New Information on Submitting Quality Reporting Document Architecture Files

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the 2016 CMS Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Implementation Guide (IG) for Eligible Professional (EP) Programs and Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) Appendix. MyHIPAAGuide.com subscribers may click here for the document.

Latest from MyHIPAA Guide:

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Visit MyHIPAAGuide.com. Questions? Contact Diane Evans, Publisher of MyHIPAA Guide, at [email protected].