For instance, under the new state law, physicians using EHRs must give pa- tients their electronic records within 15 business days of a written request (just like physicians have been required to do for paper records under state law). The state law is more stringent than the 30 days HIPAA allows. Physicians may pro- vide the record in another format if the patient agrees.
The new law also allows for assess- ment of civil penalties up to:
• $5,000 per each negligent violation in one year;
• $25,000 per each intentional viola- tion in one year;
• $250,000 for a violation committed knowingly and intentionally that in- volves using PHI for financial gain; and
• $1.5 million if a court finds “the viola- tions have occurred with a frequency as to constitute a pattern or practice.”
To avoid violating the law and facing
steep penalties, Dr. Murray advises phy- sicians to contact an attorney to ensure compliance with the new regulations and to consult their area regional exten- sion center (REC) for assistance with se- curity risk analysis and management. Dr. Murray is chair of the North Texas REC Board of Directors. For more information on the RECs,
visit TMA’s REC Resource Center, www
.texmed.org/rec.
what TMLT considers the four most im- portant data breach and privacy liability exposures:
• Network security and privacy cov- erage for third-party claims from electronic and physical information breaches, virus attacks, hacks, iden- tity theft, and defense costs for regu- latory proceedings;
• Regulatory insurance that covers ad- ministrative fines and penalties stem- ming from an investigation by a fed- eral, state, or local government agen- cy resulting from a privacy breach;
• Patient notification and credit-mon- itoring costs coverage that includes all necessary legal, information tech- nology forensic, public relations, ad- vertising, call center, and postage expenses to notify third parties about the breach of information;
• Data recovery costs insurance that includes all reasonable and necessary costs to recover and/or replace com- promised, damaged, lost, erased, or corrupted data.
For more information, call TMLT at (800) 580-8658.
Meaningful use public health measures
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Meaningful Use Stage 1 measures, physicians must attest to at least one public health mea- sure from the list of menu criteria in an effort to improve public health. The two public health measures and exclusions from the requirements are:
• Perform at least one test of a certified electronic health record (EHR) sys- tem’s capacity to submit electronic data to immunization registries and follow-up submission if the test is suc- cessful. This does not apply to physi- cians who do not immunize patients during the EHR reporting period or where there is no immunization reg- istry with the capacity to receive the information electronically.
• Perform at least one test of the cer- tified EHR technology’s capacity to provide electronic syndromic sur-
TMA ADVANTAGE
July 24 TMA webinar outlines cyber security
TMLT’s cyber liability coverage
Because medical practices are vulner- able to computer hacking, viruses, and identity theft due to the amount of sen- sitive information they collect, the Texas Medical Liability Trust (TMLT) offers cy- ber liability coverage.
It is available to physicians, medical
groups, or physicians and entities com- bined, and it’s included with a policy at no additional cost. The policy covers
Matt Murray, MD, a Fort Worth pediatric emergency physician and vice chair of TMA’s Ad Hoc Committee on Health Informa- tion Technology, will conduct a webinar on cyber liability on July 24.
He will discuss privacy, security, and patient consent con-
cerns; Texas’ new privacy law; HITECH changes to HIPAA; physi- cian accountability and financial penalties for privacy breaches; problems that can impede safe use of electronic health records and electronic exchange of records; risk assessment tools; and encryption. To register, visit
http://texmed.inreachce.com.
July 2012 TEXAS MEDICINE 37
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