Guest guest Posted May 29, 2003 Report Share Posted May 29, 2003 Dear List Members, I've been asked so many questions regarding HIPAA regulations. My knowledge and contacts are for large institutions. I, therefore, offer my brother John's "due diligence" of this issue. John Segmen is a psychologist in private practice, a graduate professor of counseling, and former president of the APA of Western NY. He addresses HIPAA issues correctly for people like LAc.s in private practice throughout the U.S. All the Best, Emmanuel Segmen Merritt College, Asia Natural - "John R. Segmen" <SEGMENJR Re: hipaa codes; deadline? I have lots of material on HIPAA compliance from the American Psychological Association and other sources. There was a deadline in October, 2002 to apply for an extension before being required to comply, and more recently a deadline of April 15, 2003 to be HIPAA compliant if one is keeping medical records and billing third party payers electronically. If one is compliant, it means that one has developed and promulgated to clients a privacy policy and is doing proper record keeping. There is no registration required as a matter of law that I know of, beyond last October 15 application for extension. My impression is that no one actually knows really how this is going to work. Case law will clarify that in time. There is a whole cottage industry developing to provide materials for HIPAA compliance, for a price. Ironically, the way the HIPAA law was written under the Clinton administration and then altered and gutted by the Republicans, while it's a huge pain to do all of the compliance, in fact, medical records of people are now less protected than they were previously. One curious feature is that HIPAA does not trump state law--usually federal law supercedes state and local law. That means that if your local existing state law makes more stringent confidentiality requirements than does HIPAA (which it undoubtedly does), then you must also comply with those state laws as you probably already are doing. This is my current understanding of the matter. I think that one way of complying as a solo practitioner who works with paper, not electronic communications channels, is to just not ever share medical records, period. -John At 1:01 AM -0700 5/29/03, Emmanuel Segmen wrote:Hi Dr. J.,I'm copying to my brother who also has a practice that may or may not rely on third party payments. My good buddy Bill Terry is the reigning "expert" in my current circle of friends regarding HIPAA. But Bill administers the University of Texas and might not have first hand knowledge of how things work for a licensed acupuncturist like you or a licensed psychologist like my brother.With regard to HIPAA, quite a few "deadlines" have passed. Did your heartstop beating? Did the sun continue to rise in the east? I believe theright to register and receive third party compensation passed us by in April. There's some other ominous deadline in October that I can'tremember. If you have a claim already in the works prior to thesedeadlines, I believe you will still be paid whether you've registered ornot. There are people even now just starting medical school and even beingborn. I believe they will be permitted to register with HIPAA at somepoint. Thus, I'm pretty sure you will still be allowed to register withHIPAA at any future date if it makes sense to you.AAOM announcements which you no doubt get spammed with tell usall about HIPAA for a price. You can take their weekend seminar on how to be an LAc registered with HIPAA. Better yet, drop by your local TCM college in Oakland and have a heart to heart with the clinic coordinator. By the way, I recommend becoming a QME (Qualified Medical Examiner). Dr. Diana Deng did that and gets money from insurance. She even trumps the insurance managers from time to time based on her knowledge and position as a QME.That's all for the moment.All the Best,Emmanuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 29, 2003 Report Share Posted May 29, 2003 Dear List Members, I've been asked so many questions regarding HIPAA regulations. My knowledge and contacts are for large institutions. I, therefore, offer my brother John's "due diligence" of this issue. John Segmen is a psychologist in private practice, a graduate professor of counseling, and former president of the APA of Western NY. He addresses HIPAA issues correctly for people like LAc.s in private practice throughout the U.S. All the Best, Emmanuel Segmen Merritt College, Asia Natural - "John R. Segmen" <SEGMENJR Re: hipaa codes; deadline? I have lots of material on HIPAA compliance from the American Psychological Association and other sources. There was a deadline in October, 2002 to apply for an extension before being required to comply, and more recently a deadline of April 15, 2003 to be HIPAA compliant if one is keeping medical records and billing third party payers electronically. If one is compliant, it means that one has developed and promulgated to clients a privacy policy and is doing proper record keeping. There is no registration required as a matter of law that I know of, beyond last October 15 application for extension. My impression is that no one actually knows really how this is going to work. Case law will clarify that in time. There is a whole cottage industry developing to provide materials for HIPAA compliance, for a price. Ironically, the way the HIPAA law was written under the Clinton administration and then altered and gutted by the Republicans, while it's a huge pain to do all of the compliance, in fact, medical records of people are now less protected than they were previously. One curious feature is that HIPAA does not trump state law--usually federal law supercedes state and local law. That means that if your local existing state law makes more stringent confidentiality requirements than does HIPAA (which it undoubtedly does), then you must also comply with those state laws as you probably already are doing. This is my current understanding of the matter. I think that one way of complying as a solo practitioner who works with paper, not electronic communications channels, is to just not ever share medical records, period. -John At 1:01 AM -0700 5/29/03, Emmanuel Segmen wrote:Hi Dr. J.,I'm copying to my brother who also has a practice that may or may not rely on third party payments. My good buddy Bill Terry is the reigning "expert" in my current circle of friends regarding HIPAA. But Bill administers the University of Texas and might not have first hand knowledge of how things work for a licensed acupuncturist like you or a licensed psychologist like my brother.With regard to HIPAA, quite a few "deadlines" have passed. Did your heartstop beating? Did the sun continue to rise in the east? I believe theright to register and receive third party compensation passed us by in April. There's some other ominous deadline in October that I can'tremember. If you have a claim already in the works prior to thesedeadlines, I believe you will still be paid whether you've registered ornot. There are people even now just starting medical school and even beingborn. I believe they will be permitted to register with HIPAA at somepoint. Thus, I'm pretty sure you will still be allowed to register withHIPAA at any future date if it makes sense to you.AAOM announcements which you no doubt get spammed with tell usall about HIPAA for a price. You can take their weekend seminar on how to be an LAc registered with HIPAA. Better yet, drop by your local TCM college in Oakland and have a heart to heart with the clinic coordinator. By the way, I recommend becoming a QME (Qualified Medical Examiner). Dr. Diana Deng did that and gets money from insurance. She even trumps the insurance managers from time to time based on her knowledge and position as a QME.That's all for the moment.All the Best,Emmanuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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