HHS Launches New Video Training Module for HIPAA Patient Right to Access

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it has a new video training module for health care providers.

According to HHS, the new training module provides an “in-depth review of the components of the HIPAA right of access and ways in which it enables individuals to be more involved in their own care.” The training module provides helpful suggestions about how health care providers can integrate aspects of the HIPAA access right into medical practice. This activity is intended for primary care physicians, obstetricians and gynecologists, pediatricians, and nurses.

The goal of this activity is to review components of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) right of access and ways in which it enables individuals to be more involved in their own care.

Upon completion of this activity, participants will have increased knowledge regarding:

• The components of the HIPAA access right, including an individual's ability to direct a copy of their health information to a third party, including a researcher 
• How the HIPAA right of access enables individuals to become more involved in their care

Information about training materials can be found on the HHS website here: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/training/index.html.

The video module can be found here: http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/876110.

The module contains a video (approximately 37 minutes) titled “An Individuals’ Right to Access and Obtain Their Health Information Under HIPAA” and features Devan McGraw, the Deputy Director for Health Information Privacy at the US Department of Health and Humans Services. The video talks about why privacy protections are important, but mainly focuses on the patient’s right of access, including:

• what fees that can be charged
• whether records may be sent unsecured at the patient’s request
• how quickly the records need to be provided to the patient upon request
• which records can be excluded from a patient’s right to access
• an individual’s ability to have a copy of his/her health information sent directly to a third party.

Upon completion of this activity, participants will receive free Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit for physicians and Continuing Education (CE) credit for health care professionals. In order to receive credit, it is required to have a Medscape user ID and password, which is free to sign up. There are no fees for participating in or receiving credit for this CME.

Additional Training Materials and Resources

Helping Entities Implement Privacy and Security Protections

The HIPAA Rules are flexible and scalable to accommodate the enormous range in types and sizes of entities that must comply with them. This means that there is no single standardized program that could appropriately train employees of all entities. 

HealthIT.gov’s Guide to Privacy and Security of Electronic Health Information provides a beginners overview of what the HIPAA Rules require, and the page has links to security training games, risk assessment tools, and other aids.

Patient Privacy: A Guide for Providers (login required), is an educational program for health care providers on compliance with various aspects of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. Physicians can earn free Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits and health care professionals will receive Continuing Education (CE) credits.

State Attorneys General Training materials provide a more comprehensive overview of HIPAA compliance:

Video & Slides from 2011 State Attorneys General Training (link to non-government website)

Computer-Based State Attorneys General Training Modules (download zip file)

Want to learn more about the HIPAA Privacy & Security Rules? Sign Up for the OCR Privacy & Security Listserv

OCR has established two listservs to inform the public about health information privacy and security FAQs, guidance, and technical assistance materials. We encourage you to sign up and stay informed!

For additional information about HIPAA Privacy and HIPAA Security training for your self and your staff, please contact Healthcare Compliance Solutions Inc. (HCSI). (801)-947-0183

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New I-9 Form Available As Of July 17, 2017

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, as of July 17, 2017. 

Instructions for how to download Form I-9 are available on the Form I-9 page. Employers can use this revised version or continue using Form I-9 with a revision date of 11/14/16 N through Sept. 17, 2017. On Sept. 18, 2017 employers must use the revised form with a revision date of 07/17/17 N. Employers must continue following existing storage and retention rules for any previously completed Form I-9.

Revisions to the Form I-9 instructions include:

• Changed the name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices to its new name, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.
• Removed “the end of” from the phrase “the first day of employment.”

Revisions related to the List of Acceptable Documents on Form I-9 include:

• Added the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) to List C. Employers completing Form I-9 on a computer will be able to select Form FS-240 from the drop-down menus available in List C of Sections 2 and 3. E-Verify users will also be able to select Form FS-240 when creating a case for an employee who has presented this document for Form I-9.
• Combined all the certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350, and Form FS-240) into selection C #2 in List C.
• Renumbered all List C documents except the Social Security card. For example, the employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security on List C changed from List C #8 to List C #7.

These changes are also included in the revised Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274), which is now easier for users to navigate. 

E-Verify User Manual Update

E-Verify recently revised the E-Verify User Manual to include the most current system enhancements and policy updates. The manual has a new look and feel, looks better on the computer screen, and has a more user friendly navigation. Some sections have been reorganized and consolidated to improve the flow and readability of the information. To assist you in identifying the updates, the revised manual includes a Table of Changes.

See the Contact E-Verify page for E-Verify technical support, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Visit I-9 Central to get more details and to stay informed of other upcoming changes.

Healthcare Compliance Solutions Inc. (HCSI) clients will also be able to download the new I-9 form and "Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9" from our website https://www.hcsiinc.com/ in the "Employment Law (HR)" section found under the in the "Updates/News" link.

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Hiring and Your Social Media Advantage

Using social media as part of your hiring process will help you find the kind of employees you want for your organization.

Jennifer was hired two months ago by her new boss Sally. Jennifer was an okay worker, but there were some things about her character that concerned Sally and Jennifer's co-workers. She had the skills to do the job, but she was not fitting into her team or the culture of the organization. Sally had thought she made a good hire, but was beginning to doubt Jennifer's longevity with the organization. When it came time for Jennifer's new hire 90-day review, Sally had no choice but to let her go. By this time Jennifer had become a negative influence on her co-workers and morale was beginning to suffer. It was time for Sally to being the costly and time consuming hiring process over again.

Hiring managers are faced with the described situation above far too often. They think they have made a good hire, but soon realize the mistake they made. 20 years ago, hiring somebody who's character and personality does not fit within the organizational culture would be very difficult to foresee. Today, there are resources available through social media that help hiring mangers make more informed hiring decisions.

Why is Character So Important?

When a new employee is brought into an organization, that new employee will have an effect on their co-workers and on the culture of the organization itself. Whether that effect is positive or negative greatly depends upon the character of the the new employee. It is important to take the character of a potential new hire into account before making the hiring decision. Finding someone who has the basic skills and knowledge to get the job done is critical to being able to do the job. With this in mind, if a hiring manager can find a candidate who has good basic skills, not superman skills, but a basic understanding of the job skills and knowledge, but also has good character, then that is a great candidate.

Social Media Resource

When a hiring manager begins to narrow his or her list of candidates down to the final few, it is time to find out more about their character. One of the best places to discover more about a persons character is by reviewing the select candidates social media profiles and posts. This enables a hiring manager to get a basic understanding of the candidates and their character. It is through the language they use, their posts, and how they interact with others that gives the hiring manager look at the personality and character of who they are looking to hire.

Social Media and Privacy

Some hiring managers may say that they do not feel comfortable looking at a candidates social media profiles due to it being perceived as an invasion of privacy. It is important to understand that anything posted online within a blog or social media is not private! Anything posted on the Internet is available to anyone at anytime and cannot be permanently removed. Any type of posting on the Internet, immediately becomes public knowledge. Reviewing someones social media profiles is not an invasion of privacy.

Hiring managers are given the responsibility to bring the best and most qualified new employees into their organization. Having the ability to review social media profiles makes it less of a crap shoot to accomplish this task.

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