HFMA continues to track HIPAA readiness - HFMA News - Brief Article

Healthcare Financial Management, June, 2002

To help healthcare financial managers assess their organizations' level of preparedness to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) as compared with that of other healthcare organizations, HFMA recently released results of an on-line survey discussing HIPAA implementation issues. The report was conducted as a followup to a survey that was performed two years ago.

Compared with November 2000, today's measures of organizational and staff preparedness have increased substantially. Nearly three quarters of 229 respondents have at least begun to identify existing policies, procedures, and systems. At least 64 percent have identified a task force or management team for implementation efforts, compared with only 27 percent in 2000.

However, the survey results also showed healthcare providers still have a long way to go, particularly in areas such as electronic transactions and communications with business associates and banks. For instance, 38 percent of respondents reported that although they performed electronic transactions, they have not yet taken steps to ensure compliance with HIPAA electronic transactions standards. Only 28 percent of this group plans to apply for a one-year extension under the 2001 HIPAA Administrative Simplification Compliance Act, perhaps indicating a lack of awareness of the availability of an extension. Similarly, 57 percent of respondents indicated that although they share protected health information with business associates, they have not yet taken steps to ensure compliance with HIPAA standards for business-associate communications.

Of the 229 respondents, 43 percent were from acute care hospitals, 18 percent were from multihospital systems, and 27 percent were from organizations categorized as "other." Small percentages were from group practices or were payers or employers.

The survey report is available online at http://www.hfma.org/resource/HIPAAupdatereport.pdf.>

COPYRIGHT 2002 Healthcare Financial Management Association

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group