Medical Practice Trends<title> » subtitle d http://www.medicalpracticetrends.com The most comprehensive online resource for medical practice management Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:45:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc http://www.medicalpracticetrends.com/topics/podcasts/feed/ Strategies and techniques of profitable medical practices to take yours to the next level. Featuring expert guidance in electronic medical records, finance, administration and legal issues. MedicalPracticeTrends.com clean MedicalPracticeTrends.com info@emedikon.com info@emedikon.com (MedicalPracticeTrends.com) 2007-2010 The most comprehensive online resource for medical practice management medicine,small business,medical practice,management,technology,EMR,electronic medical records,informatics Medical Practice Trends<title> » subtitle d</title> http://www.medicalpracticetrends.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/podcast2-125-740.png http://www.medicalpracticetrends.com Why Medical Practices Can't Use GMail http://www.medicalpracticetrends.com/2009/08/02/hitech-privacy/ http://www.medicalpracticetrends.com/2009/08/02/hitech-privacy/#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:30:00 +0000 Peter Polack http://www.medicalpracticetrends.com/?p=703 Much of the new regulatory information coming out of Washington is email-envelope.jpg getting increasingly more difficult to translate into English. I was recently asked whether a medical practice could use Google’s free email service GMail instead of spending money on a mail server and its associated server software. After checking with our own head of IT, I discovered it is a bit more complicated than just picking where you want to store your emails.

Buried deep within the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Clinical and Health) Act’s Sub-Title D is the language on privacy directly related to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Since most of us (health care providers) are considered “covered entities”, we must ensure that not only our employees and staff abide by these rules but our “associates” do as well.

If we started using GMail for our practice’s communication, there would be patient information located on Google’s mail servers and Google would, in fact, be considered one of our associates. This would require entering into a Business Associate Contract with Google, Inc. What do you think the chances are of Google, or a similar technology firm, signing a confidentiality agreement with perhaps thousands of medical practices across the country? I thought so.

Digital Business Law Group has an analysis of the language found in HITECH’s Sub-Title D – Privacy section that makes it a bit easier to comprehend.

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]]> http://www.medicalpracticetrends.com/2009/08/02/hitech-privacy/feed/ 3 EHR,EMR,HIPAA,HITECH,subtitle d Much of the new regulatory information coming out of Washington is getting increasingly more difficult to translate into English. I was recently asked whether a medical practice could use Google's free email service GMail instead of spending money on ... Much of the new regulatory information coming out of Washington is (http://evitontest.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/email-envelope1.jpg) getting increasingly more difficult to translate into English. I was recently asked whether a medical practice could use Google's free email service GMail instead of spending money on a mail server and its associated server software. After checking with our own head of IT, I discovered it is a bit more complicated than just picking where you want to store your emails. Buried deep within the HITECH (http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/110/hit2.pdf) (Health Information Technology for Clinical and Health) Act's Sub-Title D is the language on privacy directly related to HIPAA (http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/coveredentities/index.html) (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Since most of us (health care providers) are considered "covered entities", we must ensure that not only our employees and staff abide by these rules but our "associates" do as well. If we started using GMail for our practice's communication, there would be patient information located on Google's mail servers and Google would, in fact, be considered one of our associates. This would require entering into a Business Associate Contract with Google, Inc. What do you think the chances are of Google, or a similar technology firm, signing a confidentiality agreement with perhaps thousands of medical practices across the country? I thought so. Digital Business Law Group (http://www.digitalbusinesslawgroup.com/) has an analysis (http://www.digitalbusinesslawgroup.com/HITECH_SubtitleD_Privacy.pdf) of the language found in HITECH's Sub-Title D - Privacy section that makes it a bit easier to comprehend. MedicalPracticeTrends.com clean