As we have discussed with the recent rules that were published, independent contractors are now subject to the rules of a business associate, no matter whether they contract directly with the covered entity or not. That brings some challenges for everyone as those who are subcontractors try to do what they need to do to be compliant.

As someone who has been there as an IC and knows what the struggles can be, I’ve been thinking how to best address this in a way that would be helpful. There are a lot of products out there to select from, and the prices range from $200 to $4,000. I don’t know too many independent contractors who could do that.

If you are a subcontractor, you should now have your own set of policies and procedures to show that you are compliant. In an effort to assist those of you who are independent contractors, we are now making the set of sample policies and procedures available to independent contractors, or those who are classified as a subcontractor, for a greatly reduced price. The policies, which normally are priced at $200, are now available to the independent contractor for a price of $60. This does not apply to a business owner who has a business with employees or subcontractors, and is some just for the sole proprietor who contracts from someone else. This does not include the training that is offered, only the set of policies.

You might ask, “but how you know?” Isn’t it possible that business will take advantage of this? Sure it is. Still, I believe that people in general operate with honesty and integrity. It’s the cornerstone to my businesses and I anticipate that others will do the same. For me, it’s just that simple.

If you would like to order a set of these policies, please email me, put “IC Policies and Procedures” in the subject line, and I will send you the discount code to use. This offer will be available through August 15, 2010.

UPDATE: There is a problem with the links for the training page. You can find information on available HIPAA Training at the training page on the website.

A hospital in California will fire 5 employees and discipline another because they posted information about patients on social media sites.

An ongoing investigation at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside "has not yet identified any evidence that patient names, photographs, or similar identifying information was posted by these employees," according to a statement from Larry Anderson, CEO. "But our investigation yielded sufficient information to warrant disciplinary action."

A hospital spokesman declined to provide any further details. Under the HIPAA privacy rule, which was toughened by the HITECH Act, patients must give permission for their private information to be disclosed.

The California Department of Public Health is conducting an investigation of the incident, a spokesman confirmed June 8, declining to provide further details. The incident involved posting information on Facebook, according to a report by KNSD, the NBC TV affiliate in San Diego.

To help prevent similar incidents, Anderson said the hospital is "re-emphasizing, through employee training and education, the hospital's and the employees' ongoing commitment and obligation to protect our patients' privacy."

Social media does play an important role in marketing in today's world. It is important that you have a policy in place that identifies who can use social media sites and how it will be used. It is also beneficial to set up some searches for things you will track. This can easily be done in Google reader or on Twitter. Companies need to be aware of what their employees are putting on social media sites as well as what is being said about the company on these sites.

Incidents like the one above should be considered security threats and dealt with swiftly. Don't let your company be one who ends up in the middle of an investigation because your staff doesn't have guidance. Be sure the new world of social media is covered in your policies!

The healthcare industry often uses portable devices for the storage and transmission of protected health information. I find it concerning to hear many of the people I speak with thinking that because they use a jump drive or an external hard drive to store patient information, they are compliant. It simply isn't true.

The HITECH Act now specifically says that information must be encrypted during transmission AND at rest. That means all of the patient information you are storing on any kind of portable device must also be encrypted. In the publication by OCR of breaches, you will find a good many of them are as the result of theft or loss of a laptop or jump drive.

In a recent conversation I had with a transcription service owner, who is a business associate and thus subject to these new laws, the response to the above information was "well, the customers don't care so I can't be responsible for it." If you read the laws, you realize this is not the case and that business associates are held to the same standards as the covered entity. In addition, you are responsible for the actions of your subcontractors. Simply "telling them to use an external drive for storage" doesn't relieve you of that responsibility.

Simply storing things on an external drive without encryption isn't good enough. Be sure you are not caught in this situation. If you are audited, it could mean monetary penalties and fines for you.

In the first HIPAA legal case against an individual, a former UCLA Medical Center researcher was sentenced on April 27 to four months in federal prison for looking at the confidential medical records of co-workers and celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This is certainly evidence that the government is going to take the enforcement of HIPAA violations seriously. In addition, because the new rules related to HIPAA and the HITECH Act hold individuals responsible, the responsibility for protecting patient information becomes even more crucial.

Be sure your systems have the ability to provide audit trails, and be sure those audit trails are periodically reviewed for unauthorized access.

Training of all staff is critical here. The researcher's defense is that he did not know this was a federal offense and that no reasonable person would have understood this. Training of staff so that they fully understand the consequences of their actions is critical in being able to show that you have met your responsibilities under the law.

The week of May 17-22 is Medical Transcriptionist Week, honoring those folks who play an important role in the delivery of healthcare documentation.

In honor of that week, we are offering a 10% discount on all HIPAA materials and training courses. The courses offer someone for everyone, so take a look and get signed up for the one that best meets your needs. For employers, there is also a discount for groups of 10 or more.

This discount ends May 22, so don't delay and be sure you get signed up before it expires.