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HIPAA, Your Vendors and You
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A 2001 Gartner HIPAA readiness survey found that only 27 percent of healthcare groups surveyed have begun budgeting for HIPAA compliancy issues. According to Matt Duncan, research director for the Gartner group, healthcare providers have been slowest in bringing their offices up to HIPAA standards. Many providers are found to be hesitant in upgrading current systems and investing in technology. One finding is that many providers are relying on vendors to move them into compliancy. Ultimately, the responsibility for compliance rests on you.
Although the ultimate responsibility for compliance rests on you, your vendors, clearing houses and health plans should not make it more difficult for you than it needs to be. You should become proactive in understanding where these organizations stand in helping you reach your HIPAA compliancy goals.
The following three sample letters are being reprinted with permission from Healthcare Compliance Resources (HCR). They will help you understand how your vendors, clearing houses and health plans are preparing for HIPAA compliancy, and what it means to you in terms of upgrades, costs, timing, etc. Take a few moments to review these letters and questionnaires and feel free to copy them for your own use.
In addition, under the proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, HHS will develop and release a “Model Business Associate Contract”. It is unknown when this will occur, so for those who would like to update their current contracts, the following SAMPLE is provided. So far, industry standard is to view this contract as an addendum to current contracts; therefore, this SAMPLE letter is written as an addendum. Note: Please contact your healthcare attorney for legal advice.
MedStar, in conjunction with Healthcare Compliance Resources (HCR), has included three sample letters that should be sent out to your vendors to help you understand how your vendors, clearing houses and health plans are preparing for HIPAA compliancy. Response to these letters will help you understand what it means to you in terms of upgrades, costs, timing, etc. Please take a few moments to download and review these sample documents.
Vendor letters and questionnaires are available for download in Microsoft Word format. |
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