Dental News - Making HIPAA safety simple: Getting ready for mandatory electronic health records in 2014

Patti DiGangi, RDH

Thu. 13 January 2011

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Major portions of our day-to-day lives are online using e-commerce options. More than 33 percent of airline booking is online. Nearly half of us (48 percent) shop online. More than 65 million households pay bills online. How secure are those records? One hundred percent we hope, right?

If we can shop online, bank online and book travel online, isn’t it time for health records to be online? Interoperable electronic health records (EHR) are inevitable. EHR will include a patient’s entire medical histories, pharmacy, vision, laboratory tests and all other clinical information. Dentistry is not exempted from this in the near future.

However, the transition is inevitable and on track for 2014. This fact strikes fear, concern and anger in many health-care providers, leading them to ask: “Why is this necessary? What about privacy and security? What about the cost?”

The real potential of EHR is to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care to help practitioners make better clinical decisions. Interoperability will allow the appropriate information to be portable and to move with patients who consume health care from one point of care to another.

EHR moves from record and practice management toward cross-provider clinical decision support tools. The ideal is for clinical decision support to provide clinicians and patients with clinical knowledge and patient-related information at the appropriate time to enhance patient care.

Key information will be intelligently filtered and presented in a way so that this patient-centric information can be used to manage wellness and assist with personal healthcare decisions.

EHR is not only valuable to health-care professionals. Patients will have the opportunity to be proactive consumers in the management of their own health.

Who can/should access personal health information? When? Why? How? These questions are vital. The HIPAA Privacy Rules provide federal protections for personal health information and give patients an array of rights with respect to that information.

At the same time, the privacy rule is balanced so that it permits the disclosure of personal health information needed for patient care and other important purposes.

In nearly a year since the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, commonly known as the stimulus package, was signed into law making the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act the law of the land, definitions, rule-making and clarification have continued.

New civil money penalty amounts apply to HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule violations occurring after Feb. 17, 2009; thus strengthening the bite of HIPAA violations.

Privacy officers in a variety of health-care locations have been debating and developing ways of determining if a breach in security in electronic records creates harm.

Does your practice have a “Privacy Officer”? If you have one, is that person’s knowledge based on the rapidly changing arena of HIPAA that currently exists? Has your office performed risk analysis to identify if your system has safeguards that comply with the HIPAA Security Rule and is up-to-date with the new world of HIPAA?

As a speaker, I am often at airports and hotels working on my laptop computer. I have long been looking for a way to synchronize my data with my desktop computer system. The simplest way is a web-based solution that automatically synchronizes my systems.

Web-based systems enable me to have a more connected and simplified lifestyle. Is it safe? Yes, probably safer than ever before. Back-ups and redundancies are part of the system. Security is on a level that I have neither the knowledge nor desire to completely understand.

Could something this simple be available in dentistry? The answer is yes. The Curve Dental system is a web-based solution for dental practices. You are in control instead of an IT person. With Curve, you don’t need special software and all the setup hassles that go with it. You simply need web access.

There is no loading software on every computer in your practice, then configuring every computer in your practice and then upgrading every computer in your practice to work with the new software.

The entire process is much easier and less expensive when all you need is an Internet connection. There is no lengthy set-up time. Your practice can start using the system the minute Curve gives you a username and password.

Curve is winning awards left and right with its innovative system. Additionally, Curve gives you a leg up on the HIPAA Administrative Safeguard and Organizational/Documentation requirements.

Curve sends you the full analysis and helps you make the HIPAA security gauntlet a virtual cakewalk. Curve backs up your data every hour of every day. Furthermore, it’s all done in a redundant and HIPAA-compliant structure.

There are many benefits to the system no matter where you are in your career. Upgrades are constantly being made with Curve. You don’t have to wait for the next version and all the inherent problems of updates to have the latest and greatest at your fingertips. This positions Curve to readily make the changes needed for the coming interoperable EHR.

There is no reason to fear the 2014 EHR deadline. Clinicians can stop worrying knowing the heart of the business, our patient data, is safe.

Web-based solutions can provide clinical decision support to enhance patient care and productivity.

About the author

Patti DiGangi is a vision-driven person who finds strength and direction from her inner convictions. Like most true visionaries, she views obstacles as learning experiences that can be used for self-development. As a lifelong learner, her energetic, thought-provoking and successful program development and mind-bending view of what can be shines a bright light for others to preview the future and find their place in it. DiGangi can be contacted through her website at www.pdigangi.com.

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