This message thread is the real heart of HIPAA. Whether you believe the intent of HIPAA is to save money (long term) or to protect privacy or as I believe, to do both. It also speaks of the intent of the organization. Is its focus to save money and protect privacy or just to save money?
Dale W. Po
William,
This question always come up in my seminars, my standard answer is, you
may not have to legally comply, however HIPAA is meant to be best
business practices, it's meant to protect a patients privacy. Think
about it this way, on April 15 it's estimated over 10 million Notices of
Privacy
Charles,
You will need to consider each of the affected
business transactions, and you will also need to consider whether or not
any of those transactions are done electronically by others, such as billing
services, in your behalf.
HIPAA does not require that a provider use any of
the
I believe you - I've heard nonsense interpretations along those lines in
the past, too. But I have a solution. In order for my chiropractor to
avoid sanctions and penalties for sending his electronic transaction via
his computer fax without using the standard X12 format, he can instead
fax it to
According to CMS, yes, this scenario would constitute an electronic
transaction, and thus be subject to HIPAA requirements. This topic was
discussed a few weeks ago on another SNIP list (can't recall which one) and
HIPAAlive, I think. Zon Owen responded with a message that attempted to
bring insigh
So, let's say I'm a part-time chiropractor and I have occasion to send
in a dozen or so claims a week. I get tired of hand-filling in the HCFA
1500, so I get a Word document template for the form and key data in,
perhaps with the aid of a macro. Then I use my Fax software on my laptop
to send the i
Fax is considered an electronic transaction by CMS if the document
originated as an electronic document in a computer system and is faxed from
that computer system.
Rachel Foerster
Principal
Rachel Foerster & Associates, Ltd.
Professionals in Health Care EDI
39432 North Avenue
Beach Park, IL 60099