In a prior post, I mentioned that my daughter was about to release a new reference book on HIPAA and predicted the release would come in April. Wrong. College classes and a social activity or two delayed completion until now, and in spite of my grousing about the delays, her Dean’s List performance did vindicate her scheduling priorities.
First, it’s a hard-copy book with more than 170 pages. It is a reference to the full text of the latest version of HIPAA / HITECH regulations updated with the 2013 Omnibus Regulation provisions that will begin enforcement in September.
In addition to the regulations themselves, the book contains the full text of the Office of Civil Rights HIPAA Audit Protocol. Following each section of the regulations, applicable audit protocol standards appear, giving you the actual compliance criteria that OCR will be applying in random audits, complaint based investigations, and breach notification investigations. The OCR sample document request list for complaint and breach investigations is also included.
With the emphasis on Business Associates compliance in the new regulations, the book also includes the OCR sample template for BAAs that comply with the new language.
This HIPAA reference also has a feature that most of us have wanted, but my daughter deemed essential. Not having a “search engine” is her primary complaint about books…especially those that you have to access quickly…. So she added hundreds of terms and provisions to an index for rapid access to the answers you need. HIPAA is still a beast, but this helps tame it.
You can order it online at AMAZON.CON