I like your answer since it confirms some of my thoughts. We joined the OHCA just to make sure there would be no problems with credentialing, peer review, etc. We also thought sharing the NPP and policies would be a nice gesture to our medical staff so we would carry the burden of getting all of the paperwork done and then they could just modify it to meet their needs instead of creating it all from scratch. Downsides to OHCA......hm....hope there's not too many, but maybe it makes the hospital more liable when a physician violates the NPP or HIPAA in general?
>>> "Noel Chang" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 03/07/03 12:17PM >>> Here are my thought on OHCA's but they are just that. I have no experience with OHCA's and would love for someone to tell me if they agree or disagree. I would only ask that you please cite the applicable section of the rule, preamble, or guidance document that supports your position: The only places I can find OHCA's even mentioned in the rule, other than the definition of an OHCA are: Section 164.520(d) says participants in an OHCA can have a joint notice and distribution by one member of the OHCA is sufficient to fulfill the distribution requirements of all members of the OHCA Section 164.506(c)(5) says members of an OHCA can exchange PHI for ANY health care operations, instead of the more limited health care operations allowed under section 164.506(c)(4). Is anyone aware of any other references to OHCA's in the rule? Applying these two citations to the questions in this thread, including the original ones asked by Patricia Conroe, here are my thoughts: Do requests to exercise patient rights submitted to one member of an OHCA apply to all? I would say no. I cannot find any citation in the sections on patients rights to support otherwise. Except if a patient amends their PHI a covered entity must inform other affected by the amendment which I think would naturally include any other memebers of an OHCA that the CE participates in. But with regard to rights such as restrictions on U&D or alternate communications, I believe the individual would have to submit the same request separately to each member of the OHCA. Aren't we already allowed to disclose PHI to other CE's in our OHCA under the rule that allows disclosure for TPO? Yes but with some limitation. The rule allows disclosure of PHI by a CE for their OWN TPO, which under section 164.506(c) is extended to include treatment of OTHER providers, payment of OTHER providers, and only CERTAIN operations of OTHER covered entities as limited by section 164.506(c)(4)(i) and (ii). By participating in an OHCA you will get the added benefit of being able to share PHI with other members of the OHCA for ANY health care operations purposes. Does each member of the OHCA have to identify their own Privacy Official and Contact Official in the NPP? I do not see any provision that allows OHCA's to share these roles so I assume each member of the OHCA needs to have their own, and therefore any joint Notice prepared for the OHCA would have to identify the Privacy Official and Contact Official for EACH member of the OHCA. The bottom line of all this is that the only real benefit I see in joining an OHCA is it may simplify distributino of your NPP. For example, I have a client who is an interventional cardiologist. Aside from seeing patients in his office he also performs procedures at a local hospital. The hospital checks in the patient, provides the nursing staff, etc, so I believe the procedures he performs at the hospital would qualify as delivery of care in a "clinically integrated setting" therefore his practice could form an OHCA with the hospital. The only benefit I see in doing this is from time to time he is called by the hospital to come see a patient he has not previously seen in his office. If he were not in an OHCA with the hospital, he would have to carry around a bunch of copies of his NPP and acknowledgment forms so he could hand them out to the patient when he sees them (assuming he is not in an emergency situation, and assuming he is not just consulting as a provider with an "indirect" treatment relationship). By being in the OHCA he is relieved of the responsibility to deliver notice assuming the hospital has already done so. If anyone else can explain any other benefits of joining an OHCA I'd love to know what they are? I'd also like to know what people perceive to be the down side(s) of joining an OHCA? Thanks, Noel Chang -- Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org) ---------- Original Message ----------- From: Kathy Findley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "WEDI SNIP Privacy Workgroup List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 10:30:16 -0500 Subject: OCHA Answer and Disclosure Question > Hello All! > Recently I asked a question about members of an Organized Health Care > Agreement and the issue of naming their Privacy Officer or Contact > Person in a "joint" Notice of Privacy Practices? Further reading has > indicated that each entity would have to have their own Privacy > Officer, conduct their own training etc. (unless mutually agreed > upon etc.) If anyone disagrees, please let me know. > > Does anyone have any thoughts about the following scenerio? > > Several hospitals in this area are partial owners of a centralized "lab". > The Infection Control departments of all of these hospitals are requesting > from the lab, a regular listing of patients who test positive for > VRE and MRSA (whether those patients are currently in their > hospital or not). Is it allowable for the lab to provide these > lists to their "owner" hospitals as part of treatment or some other > law, or would the minimum necessary apply limiting that release to > only the hospitals who have the patient at this time? > > Thank you for any advice. > kf > > Kathy Findley > Coordinator - Information Services and HIPAA > St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center > Phone - (315) 448-6111 > Beeper - (315) 467-4180 > Text Page - [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --- > The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. > The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of > the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the > views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to > receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP > Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. These listservs > should not be used for commercial marketing purposes or discussion > of specific vendor products and services. They also are not > intended to be used as a forum for personal disagreements or > unprofessional communication at any time. > > You are currently subscribed to wedi-privacy as: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this list, go to the > Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org or send a > blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you > need to unsubscribe but your current email address is not the same > as the address subscribed to the list, please use the > Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org ------- End of Original Message ------- --- The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. These listservs should not be used for commercial marketing purposes or discussion of specific vendor products and services. They also are not intended to be used as a forum for personal disagreements or unprofessional communication at any time. You are currently subscribed to wedi-privacy as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this list, go to the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org or send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you need to unsubscribe but your current email address is not the same as the address subscribed to the list, please use the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org --- The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. These listservs should not be used for commercial marketing purposes or discussion of specific vendor products and services. They also are not intended to be used as a forum for personal disagreements or unprofessional communication at any time. You are currently subscribed to wedi-privacy as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this list, go to the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org or send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you need to unsubscribe but your current email address is not the same as the address subscribed to the list, please use the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org
