Dear RIS Insider,
Thursday, October 16 marks the date on which mandatory compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) transactions and code sets (TCS) standards was supposed to go into effect. However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave healthcare providers a reprieve on September 23, when the agency said that it would not hold healthcare providers and payors to the deadline.
Instead, CMS said it would continue to accept and send standard and non-standard versions of formats for any electronic transaction for a "limited time period" beyond the October 16 deadline. For payors, providers, and claims clearinghouses scrambling to implement HIPAA TCS standards, this came as a welcome relief.
The respite could be short-lived, however, as the agency chose not to define the length of the limited time period. And as CMS deputy administrator Leslie Norwalk observed, compliance with the TCS standards is not something that can be ignored or brushed aside.
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has been monitoring the situation closely, and has some suggestions for providers caught in the HIPAA TCS bind. As a RIS Insider subscriber, you have exclusive access to this story before the rest of our readers -- but also for a limited time period. To read more about HIPAA TCS compliance, click here.
It’s not just HIPAA TCS that’s bedeviling radiology administrators and IT directors. Compliance with HIPAA security requirements is adding to already long workdays at many facilities around the U.S. AuntMinnie.com and OTech Health Care Technology Solutions have put together a program to assist you with your HIPAA security efforts.
On Thursday October 23, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. CDT, we’re presenting a live Webcast on HIPAA security, which will feature healthcare informatics expert Herman Oosterwijk delivering a multimedia HIPAA security seminar. If you’d like to view the session, just go to http://www.otechimg.com/webcast.php to register for the event.
If you can't attend the live Webcast, there's no need to worry. After it's over you'll be able to access the audio and PowerPoint portion of the presentation in our RIS Digital Community, and review it at your leisure. In addition to the seminar, Oosterwijk will be answering questions about the HIPAA Webcast in our PACS Digital Community Discussion Group for two weeks following the presentation.
Also, if you have a comment or story to share about radiology informatics, please get in touch with me at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you.
