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New HIPAA Act May Lead to Criminal
and Civil Penalties for Non-Compliance
March 21, 2003
The health care industry faces a tough new set of compliance
challenges as a result of the US Congress passing the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The
deadline for compliance is APRIL 14, 2003. There are stringent
new standards governing patient privacy, security, and transactions
and code sets that will need to be met. These new standards
are going to affect your organization in many ways, requiring
you to address legal, regulatory, procedural, technological,
and security issues, rethinking and restructuring the way
you operate.
Blanco Wilczynski, P.C. can help by providing the full spectrum
of legal advice needed to handle all of these concerns, either
working with you on all aspects of your HIPAA-driven operational
modifications or assisting your current counsel on selected
matters.
Deadlines are looming and the price for non-compliance is
steep. Organizations that do not meet the established deadlines
for testing may be excluded from the Medicare program. The
price for non-compliance will be even more severe once Medicare
moves to exclusively accept electronic transactions and claims,
with organizations facing civil and criminal penalties for
failure to comply. Adding to the confusion, compliance and
applicability are difficult to define and will remain so until
the federal government finalizes the new rules.
Blanco Wilczynski, P.C. can help you make sense of HIPAA and
its impact on your agency, guiding you through the challenges
of compliance and protecting you in this new climate. In the
unfortunate event of a government investigation, audit, subpoena,
or a lawsuit, our attorneys will support you throughout this
process. The Health Law Practice Group of Blanco Wilczynski, P.C.
can be contacted by calling Mr. Kevin Sralla at (248) 519-9000
or info@blancopc.com.
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