Dear AuntMinnie Member,
When you think about the mammoth Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, simplification probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind. HIPAA has been making heads spin since its passage with its arcane and sometimes impenetrable requirements for keeping healthcare data secure and private.
But HIPAA can also be viewed as a force for positive change in simplifying the maddeningly complex world of healthcare data exchange. That's according to a presentation at this week's Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) meeting that we're featuring in our RADCast@HIMSS special section.
The healthcare industry is rife with independent data fiefdoms that don't integrate well with others. HIPAA is changing all that by forcing everyone to communicate using the same set of standards and code sets, according to the presentation. This has a number of long-term benefits, one of which is that HIPAA adoption is helping create a gold mine of data that can be explored using standard business analysis tools.
We're featuring a number of other articles on HIMSS presentations this week in our RADCast. Learn about how the growing use of e-mail by healthcare providers and payors is creating headaches for those charged with keeping patient data secure -- another HIPAA requirement. Or find out how healthcare facilities have reduced their costs by complying with another healthcare data standardization initiative, the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise program.
You'll find these stories and more in our RADCast@HIMSS, at himss.auntminnie.com.
