k. Contract approval - Laserfiche WebLink

all individual health information that is maintained or transmitted. However, the Electronic Signature standard applies only to the transactions adopted under HIPAA. The Security Standard does not require specific technologies to be used; solutions will vary from business to business, depending on the needs and technologies in place. Also, no transactions adopted under HIPAA currently require an electronic signature. IV. PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY The Final Rule for Privacy was published just as President Clinton was leaving office, on December 28, 2001. A paperwork glitch delayed notification of Congress, so the Congressional Review period didn't begin until February, pushing the effective date of the rule until April 14, 2001. DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson used the time to solicit additional comments during March. DHHS received over 11,000 comments and plans to issue guidelines and clarification of the final rule in response. Compliance will be required on April 14, 2003 for most covered entities. In general, privacy is about who has the right to access personally identifiable health information. The rule covers all individually identifiable health information in the hands of covered entities, regardless of whether the information is or has been in electronic form. The Privacy standards: · limit the non-consensual use and release of private health information; · give patients new rights to access their medical records and to know who else has accessed them; · restrict most disclosure of health information to the minimum needed for the intended purpose; · establish new criminal and civil sanctions for improper use or disclosure; · establish new requirements for access to records by researchers and others. The new regulation reflects the five basic principles outlined at that time: · Consumer Control: The regulation provides consumers with critical new rights to control the release of their medical information · Boundaries: With few exceptions, an individual's health care information should be used for health purposes only, including treatment and payment. · Accountability: Under HIPAA, for the first time, there will be specific federal penalties if a patient's right to privacy is violated. · Public Responsibility: The new standards reflect the need to balance privacy protections with the public responsibility to support such national priorities as protecting public health, conducting medical research, improving the quality of care, and fighting health care fraud and abuse. · Security: It is the responsibility of organizations that are entrusted with health information to protect it against deliberate or inadvertent misuse or disclosure. HIPAAdvisory.com Phoenix Health Systems Copyright 2000-2002. All rights reserved.