April 14, 2003
Dear Physician Colleagues:
As you all know, today is the deadline to comply with HIPAA’s privacy rule.
If you haven’t yet brought your practice into compliance, don't panic. It’s not
too late to get started. While we know that the "HIPAA police" won’t be knocking
on your door any time soon, physicians still need to begin a good faith effort
toward compliance. After all, a key goal of HIPAA is protecting our own
patients' health information in today's electronic world—and that's something
physicians care a lot about.
How can you get caught up on HIPAA? Take a look below at the vast resources
available FREE to CMA members. If you still have questions after reviewing these
resources, please take advantage of our HIPAA Help Line at 415/882-3311 or
contact our legal department by e-mail at legalinfo@cmanet.org.
HIPAA Overview and Action Plan (ON-CALL Document
#1600)
This ON-CALL document gives HIPAA guidance to physicians by
explaining HIPAA’s Administrative Simplification rules. It provides physicians
and their staffs with advice on how to create a HIPAA implementation plan in the
most simple and cost-effective way and explains why HIPAA and the move to
electronic transactions can be a huge money-saving benefit to physician
practices.
HIPAA Act Smart: Introduction to the HIPAA Privacy Rules (ON-CALL
#1603)
"HIPAA Act Smart" provides a basic outline for compliance
with HIPAA’s privacy rules that physicians and their staffs can follow as they
develop their own HIPAA compliance plans.
Notice of Privacy Practices Template (ON-CALL Document
#1603)
HIPAA requires that beginning April 14, all physicians with
"direct treatment relationships" provide their patients with a written notice of
the privacy practices they use to protect patients’ health information. A sample
notice-of-privacy-practices is included in ON-CALL document #1603.
Business Associates Agreements (ON-CALL Document
#1602)
The HIPAA privacy rule also requires physicians covered by
HIPAA to enter into HIPAA-compliant "business associate agreements" with
individuals and companies with whom they plan to share protected health
information. This document discusses the definition of "business associates" and
provides a sample agreement that you can use as a model to create one for your
own practice.
HIPAA Tips (At the "HIPAA Help" section of the California Physician
website)
CMA’s "HIPAA Tips," which have
appeared weekly in CMA Alert
over the past few months, provide answers to some of the most common HIPAA
questions and clarification of some of the most common HIPAA misconceptions. All
of those tips are compiled in one place at the "HIPAA Help" section at the
California Physician website. Some of the
topic’s covered are organized health care arrangements, privacy practices
notices, inpatient/outpatient privacy notice requirements, and much more.
HIPAA Compliance ToolKit on CD-Rom
In addition to the
free resources listed above, CMA’s legal team has collaborated with PrivaPlan on
a California-specific HIPAA compliance CD that members can purchase for a
special discounted price of $325 (nonmember price is $495). The CMA/PrivaPlan HIPAA Compliance
ToolKit CD provides a low-cost solution that eliminates the need for outside
consultants. The easy-to-use CD-ROM includes a step-by-step compliance plan and
all the California-specific forms, policies, and procedures you will need. This
information is not available anywhere else. While other HIPAA compliance
packages have generic forms, the CMA ToolKit contains forms that have been
customized to comply with California law. For more information, or to download
an order form, click here
.
Accessing ON-CALL Documents
ON-CALL documents are
available free to members at CMA’s
members-only website. Nonmembers can purchase ON-CALL documents for $2 per
page from CMA's online
bookstore. If you don’t have a computer, call CMA’s HIPAA Help Line,
415/882-3311 for assistance.
Again, if you have any questions. Please do not hesitate to call our HIPAA
Help Line, 415/882-3311.
Sincerely,
Ronald P. Bangasser, MD
President
