Whether or not you are aware or not the new HIPAA requirements are on the horizon this week.  The new laws are to enforce privacy options and require a form of “business associate” agreement as the laws are changing to where business associates can now be held responsible in many areas including security breaches.

If you are using an outside 3rd party billing service, these now are affected by the new laws and come under the “business associated” provisions, so perhaps a good idea to check out and do a little housekeeping.   The new laws represent some still penalties.

Seattle, WA, February 14, 2010 –(PR.com)– New HIPAA regulations for Business Associates go into effect February 17, 2010 and most chiropractors qualify as covered entities subject to these new rules. This means chiropractors will have to have a new Business Associate agreement in place to be compliant with the recently changed provisions under the privacy and security rules that impact named covered entities and business associates.

“The first question a chiropractor will ask is: “Am I a covered entity?” Put simply, if you conduct transactions in electronic form, you are a covered entity,” said Strategic Chiropractor CEO, Dr. Tom Necela. A practicing chiropractor, Necela now uses his experience both as a chiropractor, a former Insurance Claims Analyst and Certified Professional Medical Auditor to work with chiropractic practices to improve their business and minimize their audit exposure through better documentation, coding, billing and compliance

To comply with the Business Associate Agreement update chiropractors should:

Make a list of current business associates and vendors
Identify entities with whom the practice shares PHI
Draft new legal agreements for business associates to comply with the new rules
Update HIPAA privacy & security policies

http://www.pr.com/press-release/212790