The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 is a rule that protects the privacy of an individual's identifiable health information, known as Protected Health Information (PHI).

PHI includes information about health status, health care, or payment for healthcare that can be linked to a specific individual. You must password protect/secure or encrypt all documents that contain PHI.

When you email a password protected or encrypted document, do not put any PHI in the subject line of the email. Remember to send passwords to the encrypted or secure documents in a separate correspondence.  

• Documents that contain confidential information such as PHI, Social Security numbers and so forth must be encrypted before attaching to email that will go over the Internet.  
• Encryption "scrambles" the document's data, requiring a key or password to unscramble and view the document.  
• An encrypted document may be securely transmitted using email.  
• General email is not encrypted, unless you have specialized encryption software; therefore, confidential information must never be included in an email message body.

Restricted data include any and all information that relates to the:

• Past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of an individual
• Provision of health services to an individual 
• Past, present, or future payment for the provision of health services to an individual

Identifiers that may be considered restricted include, but are not limited to, the following:

Names;

Dates of birth;

Postal/residential address information;

Latitude and longitude of street address;

Telephone numbers;

Fax numbers;

Electronic mail (email) addresses;

Social security numbers;

Medical record numbers;

Health plan beneficiary numbers;

Account numbers; and

Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plate numbers.

Find more information about PHI on the HIPAA.com website.   

Hi-Tech Software Solutions' software applications support the recommended triple-check process that helps ensure MDS and billing data accuracy and compliance with CMS regulations. 

The Hi-Tech Software Clinical Records System for Nursing Care provides several reporting tools that allow you to review MDS data prior to submission, including:

• Data Conflict reporting that compares responses that seem to conflict with each other 
• CMS 672 and 802 reporting
• CAA Trigger reporting that identifies the MDS responses that triggered Care Areas  
• Billing and MDS Diagnosis Review comparison reporting
• RUG Score reporting on all MDS records, including Modified or Inactivated MDS 
• Unresolved Conditions reporting identifies conditions and behaviors that are included in a resident's two most recently submitted assessments. Use the report to verify that the conditions/behaviors are still present, and to focus on ongoing or recurring conditions/behaviors that might need additional attention.  

Our Rehab Therapy System provides tools for scheduling therapy and capturing therapy minutes.

• Use the 100 Day PPS Scheduling for Medicare A and C to project therapy needs and determine optimal MDS start dates to capture the highest RUG levels.  
• Print the COT Assessment Alert to discover the need for COT assessments based on the most recent ARD and daily therapy time that has been recorded.