firemedicak
07-07-2005, 09:29
As a generic statement and my opinion only: Let me vent that HIPAA is the result of inverting natural EMS common sense, and further tweaking it by twisting and multiplying this anti-common sense exponentially into a cluster *&%^ due to the actions of some idiots within the Federal Government.
On a lighter note, I'm interested in gathering PPIs, SOGs, training documents, etc., of HIPAA regulatory compliance measures and how the information is distributed within EMS organizations.
Our service has been declared a "Hybrid Entity" in regard to HIPAA by our municipal legal eagles. I'm not a lawyer nor a HIPAA specialist, and our HIPAA Compliance Officer is not sharing everything with us, specifically the details on why our service cannot have a "HIPAA Manual" for training purposes. I don't necessarily blame him, for as far as I can tell, he's the educated of us confused paramedics in regard to HIPAA.
What's even worse is our department's "white shirt" PIO and the local/state law enforcement community is not covered by HIPAA. These "entities" have been notoriously difficult to deal with in the past in terms of patient information/privacy/etc., and now it's almost intolerable due to HIPAA restrictions on our part, and the increasing pressure/hostility we are receiving from them.
We are now officially bound by municipal lawyers and legal eagles on their interpertation of HIPAA (and they are the ones who vetoed a training manual for our service). But I'm curious as heck to see how other services are going about business, especially in regard to training.
Any comments and/or attachments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
On a lighter note, I'm interested in gathering PPIs, SOGs, training documents, etc., of HIPAA regulatory compliance measures and how the information is distributed within EMS organizations.
Our service has been declared a "Hybrid Entity" in regard to HIPAA by our municipal legal eagles. I'm not a lawyer nor a HIPAA specialist, and our HIPAA Compliance Officer is not sharing everything with us, specifically the details on why our service cannot have a "HIPAA Manual" for training purposes. I don't necessarily blame him, for as far as I can tell, he's the educated of us confused paramedics in regard to HIPAA.
What's even worse is our department's "white shirt" PIO and the local/state law enforcement community is not covered by HIPAA. These "entities" have been notoriously difficult to deal with in the past in terms of patient information/privacy/etc., and now it's almost intolerable due to HIPAA restrictions on our part, and the increasing pressure/hostility we are receiving from them.
We are now officially bound by municipal lawyers and legal eagles on their interpertation of HIPAA (and they are the ones who vetoed a training manual for our service). But I'm curious as heck to see how other services are going about business, especially in regard to training.
Any comments and/or attachments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!