physician practices and other entities under the auspices of the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. The audits will consist of a site visit


with interviews of key practice staff, an inspection of office setup and operations regarding privacy and security, and an assessment of your compliance with regulations and with your policies. Re- ports will include recommendations for correcting compliance problems with an action plan. Some kind of enforcement action against practice violations may occur. Here are some steps you can take to-


ward compliance:


• Adopt comprehensive privacy policies and procedures that are up to date and specific to your practice.


• Carefully train everyone on your staff, especially new hires, according to your policies and procedures.


• Perform a risk analysis on your prac- tice’s data security, and set reasonable safeguards as necessary.


• Develop a risk management plan to ensure ongoing security.


• When staff violate your practice’s pol- icies and procedures, take appropriate action and document it.


The Texas Medical Association can help in the following ways:


• TMA’s 2011 edition of TMA’s Policies and Procedures: A Guide for Medi- cal Practices, www.texmed.org/pol iciesandprocedures, includes a com- prehensive, customizable HIPAA and HITECH privacy and security section.


• TMA’s one-hour recorded webinar, HIPAA/HITECH Compliance, www


.texmed.org/Verondi/Templates/Sem- inar.aspx?pageid=18530, explains what the HIPAA privacy and secu- rity rules mean to your practice and how to become compliant.


• The TMA website’s Hot Topics Bibliog- raphy on HIPAA and HITECH, www .texmed.org/Template.aspx?id=8362, offers a variety of useful links, includ- ing FAQs, guidelines, and informa- tional articles.


HIEs necessary for meaningful use


Exchanging data is one of the 15 re- quired measures physicians must meet to achieve meaningful use for the federal Medicare or Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentives. The objective for this particular measure states that a physician must have the “capability to exchange key clinical information (for example, problem list, medication list, medication allergies, and diagnostic test results) among providers of care and pa- tient authorized entities electronically.” Connecting to a local health informa-


tion exchange (HIE) enables data ex- changes. Earlier this year, 17 Texas HIEs re-


ceived grants from the Texas Health Ser- vices Authority (THSA) through funds provided by the federal Office of the Na- tional Coordinator for Health Informa- tion Technology (ONC). The purpose of the program is to fund electronic health information exchange networks to sup- port higher quality, safer, and more ef- ficient health care. Texas physicians planning to ex-


change clinical data should commit to participating in a local HIE. Doing so does not prevent physicians from partici- pating in another HIE, especially since some regions have multiple HIEs. The benefits of HIE participation


include:


• Exchange of patient data among dis- parate health care systems;


• Improved patient safety with a clini- cal record that follows the patient to all providers, regardless of point of care;


• Prevention of redundant communica- tion and care through shared informa- tion;


• Facilitation of e-prescribing, receipt of medication history, electronic lab ordering, and receipt of lab results, allowing users to meet meaningful use standards for community data exchange; and


• Improved community health out- comes as a result of comprehensive- ness and continuity of patient data.


For more information about HIEs and


what questions physicians should ask before joining an HIE, read “The Gift of Sharing,” pages 14–22 in the February issue of Texas Medicine. Physicians can get help with mean-


ingful use and the federal EHR incen- tives from one of four Texas regional extension centers. For more informa- tion and eligibility requirements, visit the Texas Regional Extension Center Re- source Center on the TMA website, www .texmed.org/rec; call the TMA Health In- formation Technology Helpline at (800) 880-5720; or email hit@texmed.org. n


Crystal Conde is associate editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach her by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1385, or (512) 370-1385; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at crystal.conde@texmed.org.


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October 2011 TEXAS MEDICINE 37


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