ICD 10 Implementation - Putting on Our Superman Cloak: MedTrainer to the Rescue

We’re seeing a lot of concern regarding ICD-10 implementation. After all the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a mandate that ICD-9-CM code sets currently used by medical coders and billers must be replaced. In short, current code sets for reporting diagnoses and procedures have to be replaced. Training your staff on implementation of the ICD-10 codes is vitally important to keep everyone on track - and your practice running smoothly.



But don’t panic, you don’t have to go it alone. MedTrainer can help with specific online training, and we’ll continue to post blogs and articles about the information you need to succeed with this change. Yes, there are literally thousands of new codes, but you don’t have to navigate the new International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision, alone.

The codes themselves are quite manageable - you’ll find the ones applicable for your team and those will the ones you use on a daily basis. Others will appear, but will not be as commonplace for you. Overall, you need to know what the government requires and how to acquire the knowledge you and your staff need to use this revised coding system accurately.

The U.S. is the last major developed nation to move to ICD-10 - we’ve been hanging on to ICD 9 the way Windows XP movers refuse to update their computers. Sure you know what you have now, but systems do get outdated.



ICD-10 comes from the World Health Organization, which collects diagnostic data for use around the world. The ICD system codes all healthcare diagnoses, tying them in the U.S. to the  American Medical Association’s Common Procedure Terminology codes, so that the correct payment can be made for the practicing physician.

While it does seem daunting, the switch to the new coding system really had to be made. Today’s procedures have changed significantly, so that it is difficult to use codes for updated procedures, or procedures that did not even exist when ICD 9 was developed and put into use.



Currently, the ICD-9 system is 34 years old. Remember the old expression “don’t trust anyone over thirty?” Well in this case, the silly phrase may be apt indeed. It’s outdated, has no room for expansion, and the codes do not provide enough detail. The system is virtually obsolete. It’s over. Wave goodbye. The sooner the better - because although  ICD-10 won’t officially go into effect until Oct. 1, 2014, training for the program and implementing it now will decrease greatly any learning curve for your practice.

So how to implement, exactly? As noted, MedTrainer can easily partner with your office regardless of size, to provide the training program you need to thoroughly reach all members of your staff and ensure compliance and knowledge.



But stepping out of the equation, here are the basic steps you should perform to get your practice on track.

First, get your team engaged. Coders, medical assistants, and all staff who document medical records should be involved in the planning for an education and training program that assesses current documentation, and looks at transition and implementation steps for ICD-10.

Second, conduct a so-called gap analysis. Take the top 25 to 40 diagnoses you see in your  practice. Use current documentation, then code the same cases to ICD-10. What’s missing?

Third, train your staff. However you chose to do so, focus on your practice’s speciality and follow through to evaluate the ICD-10 and any clinical documentation improvement necessary. Capture specific data, and make proper changes to your health record system template.

Fourth, examine where you use ICD codes. You can make improvements in coding specifics as you identify.

Fifth, education is ongoing. Don’t rush the process. Lead your practice by providing detailed diagnoses for coding.

Sixth, be sure that you utilize the services of qualified trainers to get your staff in gear, such as, of course - the team here at MedTrainer. Don’t rely on untrained “experts” to assist your team.

Seventh, remember that good clinical documentation and coders trained in ICD-10, will, in the long run, result in stellar improvements in your practice’s overall efficacy.



Let’s look at how some of these changes will affect you. For example, using ICD-9, the code for a closed, mid-cervical fracture of the femur is 820.02.

ICD-10 requires an indication as to whether it’s the right or left femur, an additional or subsequent encounter with the patient, healing capabilities? ICD-10 uses four unique codes which require that you make a notation as to which femur, the encounter type, and any complication.


In short, ICD-10 requires more specific documentation for a more thorough documentation.

This thoroughness has been documented in other countries for years. We need to get with the program, even if the program takes us a little while to “get” it. The U.S. is 37th globally in healthcare, and using outdated coding systems certainly contributes to that low slot.

Another crucial reason for understanding and implementing ICD-10?  ICD-11 is not far behind. In fact it’s scheduled to debut in 2015.

And there’s more. If transition to ICD-10 isn’t smooth, the American Medical Association has estimated that transition costs could be, hold on to your wallets -  $87,000 to $2.7 million per practice. And that doesn’t include potential losses due to coding that is incorrect.

Okay, so deadlines are tight, the conversion process won’t be seamless, and it could disrupt both the practice itself and revenue. Yes, training coders is labor intensive. That’s where relying on an outside source for a smooth transition, with minimal staff downtime, is key.


ICD-10 is critical to the success of your practice and every healthcare practice that must implement. Which is simply everyone. You must use and follow a detailed project plan and the engagement of physicians in the plan must be a priority. Even though coding may be done by others on staff, it’s imperative that physicians understand how the coding affects their documentation. Pay attention to the details - they are now key.

Your practice should actively budget for ICD-10, including training of course, and any necessary IT upgrades, coding audits and also clinical documentation audits.

Be aware of, and responsive to any delays in reimbursement caused by the transition to this new system. Test use and billing system before the deadline, and use tools that can provide information about reimbursement trends to eliminate negative patterns.

But the ultimate tip is this: get started now. Recent HRAA reports have indicated that some 33% of you haven’t started implementation and are not sure how to begin doing so as recently as last fall. Where are you in the process?

Start with developing testing scenarios. Assess the results, look for reimbursement comparisons, adjust code maps, transform your IT system as necessary. IT focusing is imperative and helps to achieve your compliance, but at the heart of your practice, you need to analyze your approach to be sure payers don’t pay too much or too little.

You want to prevent any scenario in which waste or abuse costs you money - as it already does cost the overall US healthcare industry to the tune of some $234 billion a year. ICD-10 can be seen as another major issue, and a problem area that’s waiting to explode. Or it can be viewed as a way to eliminate problems, to cut back on waste, and provide clarity to your system. Analyze your own findings to identify your personal potential levels of waste or abuse, and optimize your system through ICD-10, not in spite of it. The goal here is not just to learn a new IT language and code numbers. It is to cut back on waste, abuse, and fraud and fix issues within individual practice systems. If health plans can catch errors and address them it will eventually result in the elimination of those billions of dollars lost, dollars that can be spent on medical research, patients, and practice efficiency.



Could it be that ICD-10 is actually a blessing in disguise? We are more than happy to don our Superman cape and help show you that this new system can be exactly that - through the proper understanding and use of this specified coding system.

Don’t be afraid - you will meet the target date for compliance, and you can get the help you need to eliminate problems and expedite the process. The biggest roadblock for successful implementation is time and money - aren’t those always the roadblocks for anything?

You can circumvent them by carefully diagramming your expectations and resources, get the knowledge you need for training, and have a solid plan of action to connect the dots during the transition process. Don’t delay. Accept and implement - and keep the positive future focus going. There is a light at the end of the transition tunnel.

Improving Customer Service One Transaction at a Time

No matter what business you’re in, it’s important to improve customer service. It’s an on going process, and it is best taken on one transaction at a time. You can’t let it go or lose momentum, or you’ll find your customer base slipping away, far down that slippery slope of dissatisfaction.



In the medical, dental, veterinary, or pharmaceutical services professions, improving customer service means improving patient satisfaction and patient loyalty. This is an important area to focus on, more so than in any other business types, because basically it means that you’re practicing health care services in the most efficient, effective, and practical way possible.

An unsatisfied customer in a restaurant - well, he’ll impact the business by eating elsewhere, but no one’s life is at stake. In a medical practice of any kind, dissatisfaction can lead to disengagement that can be life threatening for the patient, and that can prevent adequate patient care.

In a very practical sense, if a patient doesn’t receive a good quality of customer service, it can also impact the medical office’s bottom line. Having satisfied patients means loyalty, success in a competitive marketplace, and improvements in health care and health care delivery.



After all, patients are a strong part of the accountability equation in healthcare. Their selection of your medical office means that healthcare delivery is measured favorably. If you don’t receive a favorable measurement, you’ll end up with no patients. And regardless of your capabilities in healing, if your patients don’t come to the table, you can’t heal.

Attracting and satisfying patients depends on customer service. And customer service relies upon communication and accessibility. Of course when you do communicate well, you are satisfying patients. This leads to the attraction of more patients. Your accessibility to your patients and the broader community around you leads to a healthy business model.

So what are some practice steps to improve customer service and satisfaction?

Timely service is key. In short: deliver service to the patient on your patient’s schedule. Eliminate long waits for lab test result distribution. Create a practice-wide goal of responding to patient questions, via phone, email, or in person. Don’t put off your patient’s concerns until it is convenient for you.

Scheduling is also important. Timing appointments to eliminate long wait times is practical and efficient for patients and staff alike.

Organization. Like timely service and scheduling, organization is a part of any successful business. In a medical practice this means delegation of tasks, time efficiency measures, and respecting the duties of others within your organization.


Peaceful environment. Patients and staff alike do not respond well to disrespect. And why should they? No bullying. We know that you’re not operating a yoga practice. But we can all learn from the serenity of yogis everywhere. Calm down, deep breath, no bullying, respect. Every employee should know how to address patient concerns and complaints.

Language skills. Sometimes even with the best of intention, words can wound or disregard. Non-verbal cues are also important. Make good eye contact. Use non-judgmental phrasing. Eliminate boundary markers between patients and staff.

Stay blame free. This contributes to improved language skills and a peaceful community. Speak clearly, use facts, not accusations. An employee may make a mistake once, but if that same mistake happens again, it’s just as likely to be the fault of the medical system or community in which he or she is operating.

Overall, we find that patient satisfaction is rapidly becoming a top priority for health care providers nationwide. Quality of care, quantity of care, these are bound areas, not separate from one another.

Providers are rewarded for good service as the nationwide Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put into practice the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program, distributing funds  to hospitals based on quality measures through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey.

Improving service is more and more about improving the entire cultural experience of a health care practice, including it’s efficiency, character, and patient outcomes.

Once again, there are some relatively simple but vitally important steps that lead to success in customer service. First of all, everyone within the practice should be aware of what they’re doing and why they are doing it. Understanding among staff members leads to high patient satisfaction and outcome improvement.  Second, staff members should be listened to, and their opinions sought. Collaborate, innovate, and work together to formulate successful patient/staff ethos.

While skilled care is obviously of the essence, so is timeliness of care. Staff members should all be encouraged to address patient needs when presented, rather than cataloging or ignoring them.
Small touches make a difference in patient comfort, and these include rapid assessment of a situation, and attentiveness to questions or concerns. In a more general way, comfort includes such areas as having free wi-fi available, or volunteers who can meet with patients to reassure or assist. These are all excellent examples of ways to reach out to patients on every transaction, in every medical care environment from office to pharmacy to hospital.

Another important area of customer service improvement involves record keeping. When health care providers can utilize accurate information about patients, patients receive better medical care. Electronic health records available today are a huge step forward in improving customer service for patients over handwritten notes that can all too easily be misplaced or disregarded. Electronic health records on the other hand can literally improve diagnostic ability in regard to diseases and over all care. They also dramatically reduce and prevent medical errors, and allow providers to deliver better patient outcomes.

After all, when using EHRs, providers have reliable and comprehensive information about a patient's health information. This can definitively assist providers is the diagnosis of patients' problems more quickly, improve safety, and support healthy outcomes. One reason for this is the fact that EHRs not only transmit patient information, they also manipulate it, checking for problems in medications, alerting staff to patient allergies, medical combination conflicts, primary care tactics and those involving specialized clinical assistance. They can illuminate potential safety hazards and help staff to avoid them.  The result is healthier and more satisfied patients than paper based record keeping can provide.



And, with the advancement of  medical practices and technology, delivering skilled, high end medical care is easier and more inclusive. From primary care doctors to nurses, technicians, and pharmacy staff, there’s an overall coordinated effort that’s sustainable, despite limited, specific patient interactions within each care giver’s field of expertise.

In short, improving patient satisfaction through today’s technology means information sharing, data standardizing, integrated care plans, and access to medical records - resulting in simpler, faster, smarter care. A marked reduction in medical errors and an improvement in error prevention and patient education is also growing through current technology.

And, many health care practices find that EHRs will also help with management efficiency and savings, more rapid dissemination of lab results and test information, cost savings through the automating of paper based, labor heavy tasks. There are substantial savings to a practice, which can be passed on to patients, in regard to reduced costs for transcription, records and record filing, and more accurate coding to improve reimbursement from insurance plans. As staff efficiency improves, tasks are streamlined, costs decrease, and accuracy improves, too. Talk about a win-win situation.

EHR-using medical practices can successfully link appointments to staff progress notes, manage claims and billing more efficiently, and automate coding. In turn, time savings, centralized management skills in regard to records, and easy to access patient information from anywhere with internet capabilities makes patient care and staff costs both improve. Also improved are disease prevention programs with the ability to access diagnostic imaging and contact government and public health officials to prevent epidemic outbreaks. Duplicating testing or imaging is dramatically reduced with the efficient, accessible record keeping EHR’s provide.

It’s important to recognize that all medical practices face pressure to improve their patient experience, not just as a productive business model or for hospital funding, but due to public reporting and survey scores. More and more, the fact that the patient is the most important person in a medical care system is being recognized, resulting in customer service improvement all around for the patient.


New transparency in patient care is healthy for patients and care givers alike, and it also leads to an increased demand for enhanced medical service experience, and greater participation in health care practices by the patients themselves.

Improving customer - patient - service is based upon technology use, caring, record keeping, and addressing staff needs as well as those of the patient. Each transaction is an opportunity to improve, to grow, and to serve. And if you need a helping hand with these improvements, particularly where compliance with new patient models, government rules and regulations, and office team work are concerned - MedTrainer’s online education and training program can and does help. We partner with individual medical practices to provide the baseline information and plans for overall improvement that are vitally necessary in today’s medical care environment.

Improving Employee Attitudes and Work Performance

You’ve probably heard the expression “Physician, heal thyself!” Well, let’s take it a little bit further - physician - or dentist, pharmaceutical supervisor, veterinarian - heal your staff.


Improving employee attitudes and work performance is of key importance for successful interactions with patients. It’s also a vital part of staff education. And yet healers of all types often just don’t get around to staff education that will, in and of itself, improve attitudes and performance, successfully address weaknesses, and retain skilled employees.

Yes, you may feel that your patients are best served by focusing your attention on their care, on research, and personal medical training. But staff development and education does impact your practice and your patients directly. And you need to lead the way and encourage staff education, positive employee attitude, and overall team performance. It’s all one big bundle. It’s especially important in regard to OSHA, HIPAA, and other compliance-requirement programs. Fines from non-compliance are steep, and employees who feel blind-sided by rules and regulations they’re not knowledgeable about will let that resentment show in attitude and performance.

So what to do? Educate! Use a simple but thorough training program that will improve staff knowledge, prevent a lack of compliance, and allow staff members to really get a handle on the information they need in order to create a smoothly running practice. Naturally, we recommend that you turn to us at MedTrainer, and let us guide you in regard to compliance with government rules and regulations, and establishing and maintaining orientation, safety, and sexual harassment prevention programs, violence prevention, and many more coaching areas.

Along with avoiding issues with government compliance requirements, you’ll be working to develop and maintain staff loyalty. Personal growth as well as professional growth start with your commitment to educating employees. Educating is caring. A caring environment retains its workers, rather than losing them to other practices.

You’ll find staff morale - which directly affects attitude and performance -  will improve greatly in an environment in which education and training is valued. Naturally, job competency will take a leap forward, too. Trained staff members are confident and assertive about running a medical practice smoothly.

It’s a simple fact that staff members receiving training specific to their work are more productive, happier, and more confident in their work. Staying current with medical care information  is obviously of vital importance, but so is staying current with government guidelines, for staff and patient safety.

When your educated, competent staff deals with patients, their good attitude and consistent competence will naturally improve patient satisfaction. If your staff feels properly trained, employee skills, attitude and capability will all improve.



And this improvement means your patient satisfaction will rise, too. So how does that affect you?  It will create, of course, a more positive work environment for everyone to experience. And it will affect your practice’s profit, too. You can look at staff education as something that supports the bottom line: because it does. Happy staff, pleasant practice, informed staff, well-treated patients who continue to support your practice. You do the math. It will add up, and favorably, for the practice whose employees feel valued and educated.

Good management skills are crucial to your bottom line. So managers who are a part of your practice should receive coaching and development skills that can guide them through their working day. And all staff members should receive thorough professional training aided and abetted by management team members, and through the consistent support of on going education. Why? To stay up to date on the best practices for care, the updated government compliance rules, and patient privacy.

Sure, your staff has very likely received a traditional orientation about your medical, dental, or veterinary practice. They’ve met with other members of your medical community, worked hand in hand with others to assimilate the day to day routines and overall knowledge of your practice.

But today, with the combination of advanced technology, updated compliance protocols, and the rapidity of new information that includes but goes beyond patient care, a medical practice needs an established, integrated training and education program that won’t take time away from other important functions in the office. Through such a program you can address weaknesses, listen to employee concerns, create an atmosphere that reduces stress, and prevents work place issues from inappropriate behavior to poor employee retention.

Many staff members may simply receive casual, initial on the job training that can be variable in terms of time and content due to work constraints. And new employee training aside, all employees need on-going training. That’s right - as radical as that idea may sound, a practice shouldn’t limit training and education to new employees only.

Performance and informational personal development are intertwined. Providing on-going training in areas ranging from patient care to personal development, conflict resolution, and HIPAA/HITECH updates are key to running an effective, productive, compliant office. All of which leads to one simple outcome: higher employee satisfaction and improved work attitude and performance.

All too often, managers don’t understand the connection between employee satisfaction, attitude, performance and what makes all three improve - proper training and education. Ongoing training is key in order to be sure that employees can handle proper patient service issues, conflict resolution, and that they know how to communicate effectively. Cross training for a variety of positions is also helpful and offers advantages when it comes to vacation requests or employee departures. Another bonus for cross training: employees know what others in the practice actually do and receive a broader overall understanding of the day to day workings of the practice. This knowledge leads to respect and recognition all around.

And along with the importance of training employees, doctors, dentists, veterinary staff, and office managers in all forms of medical practice need their own training - to stay up to date on government regulations. A perfect example is OSHA and HIPAA rules and updates. You might have learned all about them at a medical conference several years ago - but they may look different now. Small errors can cause employees to fail, and cause your practice to be subject to fines or time consuming corrections. Staying informed about rules, regulations, requirements and the best medical practices equals a successful practice.



Another important aspect of any training program is that it be directed at your profession, not general training issues. The partnership training MedTrainer offers - regardless of the size of your practice or the number of staff members - is directed specifically at the medical field. It’s important in terms of time and accuracy not to train employees with general OSHA materials and the like, as it can be irrelevant, or worse, confusing. The idea of training and educating your staff is two fold - to create an atmosphere of caring, transparency, and shared culture, and to make an effective team that will avoid miss-steps with patients and protocol. In both ways, achieving these goals makes for high quality medical care and a successful practice.

Remember, regular in-office educational programs improve efficiency and prevent problems.  Also note that education and training are different from coaching, but encouraging employees in terms of cross training, open dialog, and access to management is just as important but in a different way. Training is all about the skills and processes, whereas coaching deals with guidance and advice for performance enhancement. Our simple advice - do both.

We find that training and education - and a healthy dose of office mentoring - pays off for staff and medical leadership is so many different ways. After all, having an effective way of communicating, developing conflict resolution strategies, preventing sexual harassment, and providing a regular format for partaking knowledge of rules and regulations all results in a practice just as healthy as you want your patients to be.



For more information, visit us today at MedTrainer.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Compliance

What is the health insurance portability and accountability act? And how do you obtain compliance with it’s standards? If you have these questions, Medtrainer undoubtedly has the answers. It’s vitally important to stay up to date on HIPAA compliance for all medical care providers. Rules have recently changed, as adopted by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. These changes affect existing privacy, security and breach notification requirements.

The new rules came about due to changes in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, a part of the same law as the Electronic Health Records Incentive Program provided for Medicare and Medicaid.



As of September, 2013, all appropriately covered physician practices are required to update their HIPAA policies and procedures. Not doing so means you could be assessed fines, which are both time consuming and costly to address. Is your staff up to date on the new rules?

Doctors, dentists, and other health care providers all must update  Business Associate Agreements and Notices of Privacy Practices. To do so requires skilled understanding about encryption electronic protected health information, and why this is important.



Updates aside, how skilled is your staff in HIPAA’s Administrative Simplification provisions, including the vital Privacy, Security and Breach Notification requirements? Since HIPAA was enacted, the rules have expanded and been amended due to new laws and regulations. While the most recent updates have incurred substantial changes, the most sweeping was an outgrowth of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, which was a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.


In short, HIPAA requires a thorough understanding of laws, regulations, and updates to the same in regard to health care privacy and administration.

HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules enact the commitment to confidentiality that physicians legally must comply to regarding patients’ medical information. The rules also strive to  maintain an open communication between doctor and patient.

The requirements of HIPAA go beyond traditional, common physician obligations that may seem self-evident to care providers. Often, physicians may feel they’ve met HIPAA requirements due to following standard, careful confidentiality. However, HIPAA’s more specific compliance areas are more rigorous than traditional standards. And, if violated, serious consequences can occur.

To avoid these consequences, medical staff of all kinds - doctors, dentists, pharmacy staff - must understand HIPAA rules, and carefully follow a formal and organized compliance plan. If you don’t have a plan, or don’t know where to start, the basics begin with educating yourself and your staff about all elements of HIPAA requirements.

And that’s just the beginning. Medical staff should realize that HIPAA is considered an important base line for compliance. But individual states can and do often have a variety of requirements that go above and beyond federal government requirements.

Needing support in these areas is common, even in regard to the three core compliance elements of HIPAA. After all, your medical staff is already likely very busy with patient care, and addressing day to day issues. Remaining committed to HIPAA in principal may very well be an integral part of your practice. But are you addressing all aspects of the recently updated HIPAA rules? Are you, and other staff members well versed in the main compliance areas of the revised and updated law?

First, there’s the privacy rule, which serves to restrict covered use and disclosure of each patient’s protected health information. The privacy rule is also balanced in such a way so that it allows the disclosure of health information necessary for patient care and other purposes. This means that physicians transmitting patient protected health information electronically, whether due to filing a claim or checking on health plan eligibility, are covered entities, covered and bound to follow HIPAA guidelines when using a third party service for billing or the accomplishment of other business practices. The business associates that medical offices hire to conduct services such as billing, insurance verification, accounting, and consulting services are all business associates who must adhere to HIPAA as well.

So what exactly is protected health information? It’s information that is individually identifiable and held or transmitted by a covered entity  - a health care provider, health care plan, or a health care clearing office, or by a business associate - the service provider,  in any form from electronic, to print, to verbal transmission. It can relate to past, present, or future individual physical or mental health care services and payments.

The privacy rule also covers an individual patient’s right to access protected health information, restricts certain disclosures regarding this information, and requests changes to it, or a full accounting of disclosures=. It protects patient rights to offer complaint without concern for retaliation.

The second main HIPAA compliance area is known as the security rule. The security rule means that a covered medical practice must implement certain specific administrative, technical, and physical safeguards in order to ensure the protected health information confidentiality and  integrity. It also ensures the availability of the electronic data comprising individually identifiable protected health information, received, transmitted, or maintained in electronic form. It doesn’t apply to such information if it is transmitted verbally or on paper.

The third HIPAA compliance mainstay is the breach notification rule. This rule means that covered medical practices must notify the affected individuals, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and, sometimes the media -  if a breach of a patient’s protected health information should ever occur..

That’s a lot to contend with to be in compliance with basic HIPAA requirements. Compliance deadlines were in effect many years ago, but with changes to HIPAA, the obligations of medical practices have altered, impacting compliance, implementation, and participation in a health information exchange. After all, whenever a new business associate agreement is necessary, such as a new billing service hired, the medical practice must update and reevaluate HIPAA compliance plans. It’s not easy to stay on top of federal requirements. In fact, HIPAA’s Security Rule requires technical and non-technical reevaluations of both existing plans and the changes to existing privacy, security, and breach situations.

Many offices are not aware that the so-called final “HIPAA Omnibus Rule” implements the HITECH Act, the same law that created and required implementation of the Electronic Health Records Incentive Program under Medicare and Medicaid. These new HIPAA regulations have altered the very definition of breach to no longer include the “significant risk of harm,” but rather a “low probability” that protected health information may be compromised. This probability is determined by the type and extent of the protected health information involved, such as the types of patient identifiers and the likelihood of re-identification; who the unauthorized person was using the information or to whom it was disclosed; whether the protected health information was acquired or viewed, and the extent of risk to which the protected health information has been compromised.

It’s the law: all covered physician practices must update HIPAA procedures and policies, implementing changes by the required compliance date. Recent changes were to be compliant by September 23, 2013. Practices not compliant are not safe from required government audits that have been established to ensure that compliance.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights requires the adoption of national standards for all electronic health care transactions, as well as the establishment of  national identifiers for providers, for health plans, and for employers. This implementation of HIPAA standards has increased the use of electronic data interchange, and that usage will continue to greatly increase due to the provisions under the Affordable Care Act of 2010. And with this increase will come increased adoption requirements for HIPAA operating rules regarding covered transactions, a standard and specific Health Plan Identifier, and standard operating rules for electronic funds transfer, as well as for electronic remittance advice and claims.

Health plans will additionally be required to certify their compliance. Comply - and certify. That’s the new bottom line, and the act includes substantial penalties for failure.


So why put yourself or your practice at risk, when compliance education and creating your HIPAA compliance plan can be accomplished through thorough and simple online education offered by Medtrainer? 

Our goal is to make your practice just as healthy as your patients, to help you thrive through specifically directed information, education, and training that creates compliance situations easily, and makes certification simple, today - and tomorrow.
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