Chaplaincy & Recent HIPAA Changes

Recent changes strengths the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and are designed to ease the public’s overall comfort with electronic medical recording keeping. One of the most significant changes to the HIPAA regulations is the new rules concerning the breach of protected health information (PHI).

What is a Breach?

A breach is, generally, an impermissible use or disclosure under the Privacy Rule that compromises the security or privacy of the protected health information such that the use or disclosure poses a significant risk of financial, reputational, or other harm to the affected individual.

What is an example of a breach PHI?

• An employee accesses the record of a patient outside the performance of their job duties.
  
• An unencrypted laptop containing PHI is lost or stolen.
  
• PHI is sent to the wrong fax, mailing address, an email address or printer.
  

What happens if a breach occurs?

• Generally speaking, your institution’s HIPAA compliance officer will need to be notified of all suspected breaches immediately upon discovery of the breach.
  
• The HIPAA officer determines if there exists a reportable breach.
  
• If a reportable breach of PHI has occurred your institution’s HIPAA compliance office handles the notification.
  
• Every individual whose unsecured PHI has been breached must be notified in writing as soon as feasible and within a 60 day period.
  
• Breaches are required to be reported to Health and Human Services (HHS).
  
• If less than 500 individuals are affected: log and report annually.
• If more than 500 individuals are affected: HHS must be notified at the same time the patient is notified. The media must also be notified.
  

How can Clinical Chaplains help prevent breaches of PHI?

Be alert about your responsibilities to protect PHI while carrying out your tasks. Take special care in these situations:

• When faxing be sure to always use your institution’s official fax cover sheet and reconfirm the recipient’s fax number before transmittal.
  
• Do not put PHI, including patient stickers and medication labels, in regular trash. Shred or place in privacy bins for special disposal.
  
• When retrieving information from the printer or faxing PHI determine each page corresponds to the correct patient
  
• Double check the name of the patient before you put information in the envelopes for mailing.
  
• Log off your computer prior to stepping away from it.
  
• Use password protection and encryption features for your Blackberry, cell phone and other mobile devices such as thumb drives and CDs.
  
• Only store PHI on mobile devices when absolutely necessary for your institution’s business purposes and delete as soon as feasible.
  
• Encrypt any email containing PHI sent outside your institution.
  
• Never share your password or use someone else’s sign on information as this could lead to you being disciplined by your institution.

For further information on the new HIPAA standards follow the link below:
US Department of Health and Human Services

1000 Patients Treated at Little Rock Free Health Clinic

Serious Conditions Are Uncovered Among More than 1,000 Patients at Little Rock Free Clinic
Another Clinic Is Planned for Kansas City

LITTLE ROCK – Saturday’s free health clinic at the Statehouse Convention Center treated more than 1,000 uninsured Arkansas residents with a variety of health problems, many of them serious. More than 90 percent of them had three or more life-threatening conditions, such as cardio-vascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and pulmonary disease.

Seven people had such serious conditions that physicians decided they should be taken immediately by ambulances to local hospital emergency departments. Of those, five were admitted to hospitals for cardiac reasons, and two of them had had recent hearts attacks of which they were unaware.

“With an army of more than 1,200 volunteers, we changed the lives of more than 1,000 people at this clinic,” Nicole Lamoureux, executive director of the National Association of Free Clinics (NAFC), said. “We provided them with not only basic medical care but also knowledge about how to improve their health and connections to the community safety net near where they live.”

The C.A.R.E. (Communities Are Responding Everyday) Clinic was designed to demonstrate the work that goes on daily at more than 1,200 free clinics across the country, including about two dozen free clinics in Arkansas, so that more people could take advantage of their services.

Many chronic medical conditions were treated among the more than 1,000 patients at the C.A.R.E. Clinic. Dr. Kimberly Garner, a Veterans Administration physician who served as medical director of the clinic, said high blood pressure was the most prevalent problem, followed by diabetes.

“You can’t treat blood pressure for just a week or even a month,” Garner said. “The most important thing we did in this clinic was not just to treat the patients’ conditions but to encourage them to use their local free clinics or other services they can afford for ongoing treatment.”

The volunteer workers at the clinic found that 69 percent of the patients either do not go anywhere for medical care or go to hospital emergency rooms. About 9 percent of the patients had been examined by a physician in more than 10 years, and another 24 percent had not seen a physician in more than five years.

The patients at Saturday’s clinic were 62 percent women and 38 percent men.

The Little Rock C.A.R.E. Clinic was the third massive free clinic sponsored by the NAFC. More than 1,700 patients received treatment at the first one in Houston in September, and more than 1,000 received treatment at the second one in New Orleans on Nov. 14. The next C.A.R.E. Clinic is scheduled for Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 9-10.

More information is available online at:

http://freeclinics.us/.

Troubling Trend in Anti Obama Religious Political Rhetoric

Growing up in Northern Ireland in the 1970’s I know firsthand how dangerous it is when religious dysfunction underpins political dysfunction in a way that creates a space for sectarian violence. I see something similar happening here in the US as certain religious and political groups oppose President Obama. The most recent anti Obama political religious rhetoric comes in the form of a prayer taken from Psalm 109 verse 8 which reads “May his days be few, may another take over his position.” The next verse in the Psalm reads “May his children be orphans and his wife a widow.” Rabbi Brad Hirschfield is right when he comments “The issue is not the scripture quoted or the name by which God is called by those doing the praying. The issue is invoking the God in whom any of us believe, to act as executioner of those with whom we disagree.” This is a troubling trend in anti-Obama political religious rhetoric which must be opposed by all people of faith and goodwill.

To read Rabbi Hirschfield’s comment select the link below:

Psalms 109:8, An Ugly Prayer for President Obama

Free Midical Clinic Little Rock State Convention Center

Little Rock C.A.R.E

Saturday, November 21, 2009 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Little Rock State House Convention Center7 Statehouse PlazaLittle Rock, AR 72201

Communities Are Responding Everyday (C.A.R.E)

The National Association of Free Clinics (NAFC) and its partners will be sponsoring a one day free medical clinic for the uninsured on Saturday November 21, 2009. The Little Rock C.A.R.E. Clinic will offer basic medical care and health education. Come help thousands of families gain access to medical screening and care they otherwise may not receive. The Little Rock C.A.R.E. Clinic needs medical and non-medical volunteers! Sign up today!

Visit the Little Rock CARE website

Register online click here

Email: littlerockclinic@freeclinics.us

Director of Youth Ministries Position

First United Methodist Church a 1200 member downtown congregation in Little Rock, Arkansas is seeking a qualified applicant for the position of Director of Youth Ministries.

The director is responsible for all aspects of youth ministry for a constituency of almost 100 youth between the ages of 12 to 18.

A college degree in a related field is expected. A passion for Christian discipleship with young people and their families is vital.

A competitive salary with benefits--contact

Sr. Pastor, Rev. Michael L. Mattox. mmattox@fumclr.org

Cover letter and complete resume with references should be sent to:

Sr. Pastor, Rev. Michael L. Mattox.
723 Center Street,Little Rock, AR 72201
Posted by George Hankins

A Chance to Finish the Business of Living

Sometime ago Don Berwick, MD spoke about 20 improvements that doctors could make in the end of life care of their patients that begins in a simple conversation. Berwick recommended the following considerations as his top three suggestions:

1.Ask yourself as you see patients, "Would I be surprised if this patient died in the next few months?" For those "sick enough to die," prioritize the patient's concerns - often symptom relief, family support, continuity, advance planning, or spirituality.

2.To eliminate anxiety and fear, chronically ill patients must understand what is likely to happen. When you see a patient who is "sick enough to die" - tell the patient, and start counseling and planning around that possibility.

3.To understand your patients, ask (1) "What do you hope for, as you live with this condition,"

(2) "What do you fear?," (3) It is usually hard to know when death is close. If you were to die soon, what would be left undone in your life?," and (4) "How are things going for you and your family?" Document and arrange care to meet each patient's priorities.

All too often the task of finishing the business of living gets left undone because the end of life conversation has never taken place for whatever reason. I strongly recommend reading Dr. Berwick’s 20 recommendations and sharing them widely.

You can find Berwick’s the full article on the website Americans for Better Care of the Dying at the link below:
http://www.abcd-caring.org/tools/intern.htm

Health Care Reform Inflammatory Language

Health care reform is a scary subject for ordinary Americans and this is not been helped by the tone of the current national debate on this issue which has turned terrible nasty. One of the most heated concerns to have emerged recently relates to end-of-life conversations. End-of-life conversations are difficult at the best of times and made all the more difficult in these uncertain days of economic upheaval when many Americans have lost their jobs, health care insurance and homes. Unfortunately, some public figures and national leaders have chosen to offer their critique of the proposed health care reforms using only the most inflammatory language possible. The tenor of this debate does not bode well for the American public in terms of any real substantial change to a health care system which is too costly to sustain and unequal in terms of access. These difficult days call for true leadership which does not fail for lack of nerve to embrace the courage of change in the best interests of all in the culture. End-of-life conversations invite everyone involved in the conversation to figure out the right thing to do in each individual case and to have the courage to follow through on the difficult decisions reached. In the same way the American public needs national leaders who will engage the health care reform debate with the same gravitas as those loved ones involved with end-of-life decisions.

Parish-Based CPSP CPE Residency Position

PARISH-BASED CPE RESIDENCY POSITION:

Stipend $40,000. Rural Parish with Recreation Ministry; Contracted with the South Carolina Department of Corrections and the Midlands Area Pastoral Counseling Services, Inc.
Program Accredited by the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (January 4 – December 31, 2010).

Inquire at Liberty Hill Presbyterian Church, Box 170, Liberty Hill, SC 29074

Telephone: 803-273-9191

Gene Rollins, Supervisor:

lhpc@comporium.net

For more information about CPSP visit the link below:http://www.cpsp.org/.