At HIPAAeasy we live and breathe HIPAA so that you don’t have to. (The
way we see it, when healthcare professionals have time to concentrate on healthcare,
everyone wins.) Serious misinterpretations of the HIPAA laws – and total
myths – seem to abound these days. Below are some of the myths you should
be aware of.
MYTH: You need to provide
a sign-in sheet that assigns an anonymous number to each
patient.
REALITY: The old sign-in sheet will
do just fine if it doesn’t ask for medical information.
We’ve actually seen triple-blind sign-in sheets
offered by other HIPAA solutions providers. Save your
money.
MYTH: You may not call
a patient’s name in the waiting room when there are
other patients present.
REALITY: Call your patients’ by
their names anywhere in your office. Nobody likes to
be called by a number, and there is no HIPAA regulation
that requires you to call your patients that way.
MYTH: If you have fewer
than 10 employees you are exempt from the HIPAA regulations.
REALITY: No healthcare provider is exempt.
All providers from the largest University Medical Center
to the smallest storefront eyeglass store must comply
if they are a covered entity. (If you don’t know
whether you are a covered entity or not, you can find
out by clicking here and answering a few questions.)
MYTH: You don’t
have to provide a take-home version of the Notice.
REALITY: Sorry, you do. Patients are
fully within their rights to turn the Notice back to
you, but whether they accept it of not you still must
get a signed Acknowledgement of Receipt from them, or
document in writing the reasons you were not able to
obtain a signature.
This leads to our final myth:
MYTH: You must give the Notice of Privacy
Practices every time the patient is seen by the practice.
REALITY: You only have to give the
Notice of Privacy Practices the first time you treat
a patient after April 14, 2003.
The HIPAAeasy System will help put you into compliance with
the real HIPAA regulations. LEARN
MORE
We can help you decide which HIPAAeasy System kit is right
for you. CLICK HERE
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