The oft-delayed Red Flags Rule, scheduled to take effect November 1, may be in for a major change. A bill that passed the US House October 20 and arrived in the Senate the next day would exempt, among others, healthcare practices with 20 or fewer employees from meeting the law’s requirements.

The amendment is intended to relieve the administrative burden on small businesses.

The Red Flags Rule, part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003, requires “creditors” and financial institutions to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. As described in the rule, creditors are organizations that maintain consumer accounts that receive multiple payments or payments made in installments.

In full, HR 3763 amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to exclude “any health care practice, accounting practice, or legal practice with 20 or fewer employees.” It also excludes any other business that the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees the rule, determines:

• knows all its customers or clients individually;
• only performs services in or around the residences of its customers; or 
• has not experienced incidents of identity theft, and identity theft is rare for businesses of that type. (more…)

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a state legislature bill on October 11 that would have specified content requirements for privacy breach notifications.

California law requires businesses and state agencies that have unencrypted personal information lost, stolen, or improperly accessed from their databases to notify affected consumers. However, the law does not specify what information the notification letters must contain.

Senate bill 20 would have ensured businesses include key information in their notices, such as the type of personal information breached, a description of the incident, the date it took place, and who to contact for more information.

The bill was vetoed, Schwarzenegger wrote in his explanation, because there is no evidence of a problem with the information businesses are currently providing consumers. (more…)

Organizations looking to begin the transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS can find project management resources in the October practice brief “Transitioning ICD-10-CM/PCS Data Management Processes.” Web-only resources include:

• Sample project communication plan
• Sample project plan
• Sample project progress report
• Sample issues log

The online version also includes a list of communication aids that organizations may use in the transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS and a contact form for the major stakeholders leading the ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation.

As the practice brief notes, planning for the transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS is a multifaceted effort. Defining the organization’s data management plan will facilitate a smooth transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS and optimize its greater specificity.

Like the rest of us, MS-DRGs have to transition to ICD-10-CM/PCS. Their conversion is off to a good start, with a preliminary version already available.

The conversion project offered an early test of the General Equivalence Mappings and provides organizations with a process for converting their own applications to ICD-10-CM/PCS.

Rhonda Butler and Janice Bonazelli, senior clinical analysts at 3M Health Information Systems, offer an overview of the conversion in this early look into the upcoming November/December issue of the Journal.

In one sense, the future is already here for those who manage health information. The skills HIM professionals need today are not very different from those they’ll need in 10 years, according to a new survey of practitioners, recruiters, and employers conducted by AHIMA.

In addition, while the industries looking for HIM knowledge continues to diversify, the greatest concentration of employment is expected to remain within seven industries that are today’s major employers.

What will change, however, is the breadth and depth of the competencies required to do the work. The fundamental knowledge of health informatics that may serve today, for example, won’t go a long way in 10 years, according to survey respondents.

Following are the top five competencies that respondents believe are required for health information management now and in 10 years, ranked by their current importance.

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On Wednesday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the interim final rule for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). In it, CMS modifies the HIPAA privacy rule to explicitly include genetic information within the definition of health information. 

The rule also proposes to:

• prohibit health plans from using or disclosing protected health information that is genetic information for underwriting purposes;
• revise the provisions relating to the notice of privacy practices for health plans that perform underwriting;
• make conforming modifications to definitions and other provisions of the privacy rule; and
• make technical corrections to update the definition of “health plan.”

The interim final rule applies GINA’s prohibitions on using and disclosing protected genetic health information for underwriting to all health plans subject to the privacy rule, rather than solely to the plans GINA explicitly requires be subject to the prohibition. It also proposes applying the prohibition on using or disclosing is genetic information for underwriting purposes to all health plans that are covered entities as defined by the HIPAA privacy rule.

CMS will accept public comments for 60 days.

Signed in 2008, GINA protects individuals against discrimination in health coverage or employment based on their genetic information.

HIM professionals who go from practice to teaching (or teach part-time while practicing) bring a wealth of real-life experience to their classes. They also bring some subtler lessons they have learned about succeeding in the workplace.

Jill Burrington-Brown, who teaches in an online HIM program at Missouri Western State University, shares with her students the communication skills she has learned in a career that has covered a range of settings and roles.

Burrington-Brown, MS, RHIA, FAHIMA, has been an HIM director; managed quality improvement, medical staff, and risk management departments; taught; worked in a law firm; and for eight years, she was a professional practice manager at AHIMA. Communication skills may not be a chapter in standard HIM and health IT textbooks, but she assures her students that communicating well will fundamental to doing their jobs well. (more…)

The October 2009 cover article examines the provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that offer exceptional opportunities for HIM programs, individuals, and the profession as a whole. Other features report on how diversity in the HIM workforce can help reduce healthcare disparirities and how integral senior-level professional practice experiences are for HIM students.

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