http://www.cobracs.com/Rss/HIPAA.ashx HIPAA - News & Review 10 Some benefits are excepted from the HIPAA portability regulations. These benefits include supplemental coverage under a separate policy, certificate, or contract of insurance. In December 2007, the DOL issued safe harbor rules in Field Assistance Bulletin 2007-04 concerning what supplemental coverage is exempt from HIPAA's portability rules under this exception, noting that the IRS is also responsible for enforcement. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/News_Review_Articles/news_review20080311-4.aspx 11 Mar 2008 HIPAA originally came to life more than a decade ago for the purpose of improving portability, access and continuity of group health plan coverage. HIPAA-covered plans are subject to rules on creditable coverage, pre-existing condition exclusions, special enrollment rights, and nondiscrimination. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/News_Review_Articles/news_review20080107-7.aspx 07 Jan 2008 It is a familiar scenario when employers change health insurance carriers. Before the new policy takes effect, participants complete an application. Space is provided for reporting any preexisting conditions or likely surgeries. Because of HIPAA, these conditions typically may not be excluded, but the carrier takes them into account in determining the overall premium. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/News_Review_Articles/news_review20070709-4.aspx 09 Jul 2007 Perhaps you cannot feel the ground trembling yet, but certainly distant echoes signal that a new emphasis on HIPAA privacy and security enforcement is on its way. Simply witness the following activity: http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/News_Review_Articles/news_review20070507-2.aspx 07 May 2007 The general rule with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is that it does not provide victims their day in court. Violations are handled by the Department of Health and Human Services, however, exceptions to this rule exist, as two recent cases show. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/News_Review_Articles/news_review20070312-1.aspx 12 Mar 2007 Finishing what they started five years ago, three federal departments – Labor, Treasury, and Health & Human Services – recently published final regulations on health factor nondiscrimination for group health plans, including wellness programs and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs). Employers and insurance agents are encouraged to review plans to ensure they contain compliant provisions. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/new_review20070109-3.asp 09 Jan 2007 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) turned 10 years old on August 21, 2006, but it is unlikely that many employers took time to celebrate. The milestone does provide a good reminder to employers to review existing policies and practices and ensure they are complying with HIPAA. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/new_review20060911-3.asp 11 Sep 2006 The Office for Civil Rights (OCR), an agency that is part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), recently published a brochure that describes the procedure for filing HIPAA privacy complaints with OCR. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/new_review20060614-4.asp 14 Jun 2006 What is it: HIPAA Solved is a software solution for creating customized Policy and Procedure manuals for HIPAA Privacy & HIPAA Security. HIPAA Solved is powered by Interactive HIPAA™ software from H.J. Ross – a leading developer of medical compliance software solutions. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/new_review20060411-7.asp 11 Apr 2006 HIPAA’s special enrollment rules recently cost an employer’s health plan some $750,000 in claims. The final costs will likely be even higher. In Livingston v. South Dakota State Medical Holding (“DakotaCare”), the Court required the insurance carrier, DakotaCare, to cover an employee and her prematurely born infant and offer them COBRA coverage. Previously, the employer had been dismissed as a defendant, and the employee, Danielle Livingston, had assigned her rights in the lawsuit to Sioux Valley Hospital. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/new_review20060411-4.asp 11 Apr 2006 Look at your April 2006 calendar. If you do not see the word HIPAA, dark skies are on the horizon unless you get to work soon. Two major benefit deadlines loom in April, one each for small and large group health plans. Both deadlines relate to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/new_review20060411-1.asp 11 Apr 2006 The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued 45 pages of its long-awaited final enforcement rule governing the HIPAA privacy, security and related rules, calling it a regulation with “extremely broad implications” for healthcare. The final ruling was released on February 16, 2006 and it details how HHS will define violations, determine culpability and the steps that organizations may take to protect themselves. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/newsroom20060314-2.asp 16 Mar 2006 Just when employers thought they had the process completed for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), more changes emerge requiring a review of existing processes and notices. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/newsroom20050721-1.asp 21 Jul 2005 The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued proposed rules on April 18, 2005 imposing civil monetary penalties (CMP) for entities that violate the Administrative Simplification Provisions (ASP) of HIPAA. The rules clarify the procedures for investigations, hearings, and the violations of civil money penalties that apply to all the HIPAA Privacy Rules that can be imposed from the issued date, April 18, 2005. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/newsroom20050622-2.asp 22 Jun 2005 While many have already been dealing with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), regarding either portability or privacy, before the dust can settle the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Internal Revenue Service and the Employee Benefits Security Administration jointly posted final rules and proposed regulations. The effective date for the rules was February 28, 2005.They become applicable for plan years beginning on or after July 1, 2005. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/newsroom20050321-1.asp 21 Mar 2005 Your clients may feel like they had enough of HIPAA compliance. Perhaps they have their HIPAA Portability responsibilities covered, put their HIPAA Privacy program into place and thought they would get a breather until they had to deal with HIPAA Security deadlines in 2005 or 2006. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/newsroom20050222-3.asp 22 Feb 2005 Nine years later, the regulations are clarified and changed The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Treasury posted final HIPAA Portability Regulations on December 30, 2004, which provides workers greater access to group health plan coverage. Originally, the rules, which apply to group health plans and their insurers, were issued on an interim basis in 1997. The final rules become effective February 28, 2005, with an applicability date to apply for plan years starting on or after July 1, 2005. http://www.cobracs.com/news/stories/newsroom20050119-1.asp 19 Jan 2005 Washington State Sees First HIPAA Privacy Case To Result In Prison Sentence HIPAA privacy is serious business, as Richard W. Gibson, a former health care facility employee, found out when he was sentenced to 16 months prison time and fined more than $9,000 for wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information for economic gain. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa15.asp 16 Nov 2004 Protected Health Information or PHI, many are familiar with that buzz word and feel a twinge of uncertainty when the word is dropped into conversations. The uneasiness comes from the more complicated tale of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and the confusion surrounding the privacy regulations. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa14.asp 15 Sep 2004 Every employer who offers health insurance must be in compliance with the HIPAA Privacy rules. Period. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipsolved2.asp 06 Aug 2004 Based on responses from an Infinisource client survey, as many as 500 clients may believe they have no HIPAA Privacy responsibilities, a disturbing finding in light of the fact that for small health plans (less than $5 million in annual receipts) it is crunch time. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipsolved1.asp 3 Mar 2004 Whether you have already met all the criteria for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), or you are scrambling to have everything in place by April 2004, you’ve likely got HIPAA on your mind. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa13.asp 19 Dec 2003 A Wisconsin Court of Appeals concluded it does not matter whether an emergency medical technician (EMT) released protected health information (PHI) to one person or many, but rather disclosing a patient’s medical information is not allowed under a state invasion of privacy law. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/privacy2.asp 18 Jul 2003 Elvis may have left the building, but the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is here to stay. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa11.asp 9 May 2003 Non compliance can lead to fines of up to $25,000 The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has released interim final rules on Civil Money Penalties that may be imposed for violations of HIPAA Administrative Simplification rules. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa12.asp 18 Apr 2003 Some may think of Monday as Black Monday – while the deadline for compliance with HIPAA Privacy guidelines is certainly not the same as the stock market crash, the effect on a noncompliant business could be just as devastating. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa9.asp 11 Apr 2003 April 14, 2003, is the deadline date for complying with HIPAA privacy rules. So, what exactly happens if that deadline is not met? Businesses and their HIPAA privacy officials could face fines and penalties if a complaint is filed against them. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa10.asp 11 Apr 2003 HIPAA – there are so many things to learn and so little time. Employers are struggling, trying to understand what HIPAA means to them at the same time they need to be devoting many hours to making sure they are compliant. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa7.asp 11 Apr 2003 The deadline to comply with Administrative Simplification under HIPAA is just around the corner and COBRA Compliance Systems, Inc. (CCS) is working on its own compliance requirements. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa6.asp 10 Mar 2003 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the adoption of final rules for the Administrative Simplification provisions of HIPAA dealing with final security standards for protecting individually identifiable health information when it is maintained or transmitted electronically. In addition, modifications were made to some of the electronic transactions and code sets that were adopted as national standards. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa5.asp 21 Feb 2003 HIPAA privacy regulations are already being tested in the nation’s courtrooms. Three U.S. companies found themselves in court over procedures and methods of using private health information (PHI). http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/privacy1.asp 13 Feb 2003 Much attention has been given to health care providers and insurers meeting the April 14 deadline for HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). However, employers may also need to take steps to protect the privacy of employee’s medical information prior to the spring compliance date. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa4.asp 7 Feb 2003 The true meaning behind the HIPAA acronym is more complex than most employers, providers, health care plans or agents can grasp in one dose. Who actually has to comply? What is required? What are the deadlines? http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa1.as 31 Jan 2003 Administrative Simplification seems like an oxymoron, but it’s a reality for health care providers, clearinghouses, health plans and employers who are charged with implementing administrative, physical and technical safeguards that protect health information. http://www.cobracs.com/Infinisource/stories/hipaa2.asp 31 Jan 2003