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SEPTEMBER
16, 2002--In 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act (HIPAA) became law. This law applies to all "covered entities"
which includes health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and healthcare
providers.
The Office
of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services
established standards for electronic health care transactions and code
sets. Under HIPAA, this is any set of codes used to encode data
elements, such as tables of terms, medical concepts, medical diagnostic
codes, or medical procedure codes. This includes both the codes and
their descriptions.
The
1996 Act has been finalized and any "covered entity" needs to submit an
Electronic Health Care Transaction and Code Sets Standards Model
Compliance Plan by midnight October 15, 2002 indicating they are in
compliance or requesting an extension. Or, you must submit the above
mentioned plan requesting an extension. There are only two choices.
Provide
your email and we will allow you to download the necessary form. It
will only take you about 15 - 20 minutes to complete. If you do
anything with patient information and are dealing with Medicare
patients it is imperative that you follow the HIPAA guidelines.
Any questions, please ask. We are here to help.
Regards,
Ron |