AHA, provider groups urge HIPAA action
In a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson, the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Clinical Laboratory Association, the American Health Care Association, the American Medical Association, Premier Inc., and VHA Inc. urged HHS to act promptly to prevent an impending train wreck from an uncoordinated implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standardized transactions on Oct. 16.
"Despite the best efforts of all parties, many covered entities will not be able to achieve full compliance by that date due to circumstances beyond their control," the organizations wrote. They warned that absent action from HHS, rejection of nonstandard electronic transactions and resulting reversion to paper transactions by significant numbers of providers will lead to a major disruption of payments to providers under Medicare, Medicaid, and private-sector health plans.
The organizations urged HHS to clarify that during a reasonable migration period, transactions standards compliance requires only that claims be in the HIPAA standard format, use the standard codes and contain only the data content necessary for adjudication. They also urged the agency to develop a process to ensure an adequate level of cash flow to providers during the transition. The letter can be viewed at www.aha.org by clicking on "HIPAA" under Key Issues, then "What’s New."
AONE report highlights nursing best practices
Hospitals and health systems are working hard to improve the working environment for nurses as part of their efforts to relieve the widespread nursing shortage, according to a report released today by the American Organization of Nurse Executives, an American Hospital Association affiliate.
The report contains insights from a survey of 21 hospitals and 61 individuals about their experiences, best practices, and lessons for strengthening the nursing work environment. It focuses on six key organizational success factors in such efforts: leadership development and effectiveness, empowered collaborative decision making, work design and service delivery innovation, values-driven organizational culture, recognition and reward systems, and professional growth and accountability.
The free report, Healthy Work Environments: Striving for Excellence, Volume II, can be downloaded at www.aone.org.
AHA, provider groups urge HIPAA action; AONE report highlights nursing best practices
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content