Over the last few years I have been involved in Create West Virginia, an organization affiliated with Vision Shared whose mission to create and stimulate new economy growth and empower West Virginians to grow creative communities in West Virginia. Communities centered on innovation, technology, entrepreneurship, education, quality of life and arts/culture.
Each year Create WV holds [...]
Have you had a health data security breach? Do you know what a health data breach is? Are you required to notify individuals impacted by the breach? Do you have to notify federal agencies of such breach?
Read on for more information regarding the Office for Civil Right (OCR) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations requiring [...]
Members of the U.S. House of Representative submitted an October 1, 2009 letter of concern to Secretary Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) concerning inclusion of a “harm standard” in the recently released(August 24, 2009) Interim Final Rule – Breach Notification for Unsecured Protected Health Information (45 CFR Part 160 and [...]
Over the past several months I have been involved with a group in developing West Virginia’s statewide strategic plan for health information technology.
The final draft of the West Virginia Health Information Technology Statewide Strategic Plan, September 2009 is now available for review and comment. Additional comments and feedback on the strategic plan are welcome.
The strategic [...]
This morning I finally got around to reading the article by David Goldhill, CEO of the Game Show Network, in the Atlantic. How American Health Care Killed My Father is a thought provoking look at the failure of our current health care system.
On the eve of President Obama’s speech to Congress on health care I [...]
The Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director for the Office for Civil Rights, Robinsue Frohboese, has designated Office for Civil Rights Regional Managers in each of the HHS Regional Offices to serve as the Regional Office Privacy Advisors. On July 27, 2009, Secretary Sebelius authorized the Director of the Office for Civil Rights to carry [...]
The DHHS Office of Inspector General has issued the Fiscal Year 2008 State Medicaid Fraud Control Units Annual Report. The report covers FY 2008 (October 1, 2007 – September 30, 2008.
The summary of the report provides background on the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) grant program, the number of states participating, the amounts recovered and [...]
Dawn Miller of the Charleston Gazette highlights the ongoing Fit West Virginia (#FitWV) effort ongoing via Twitter in her op-ed piece, West Virginians try to tip scales on obesity.
The idea was born back on West Virginia Day as a result of Jason Keeling asking his blog readers to discuss solutions to West Virginia’s problems in [...]
The American Health Lawyers Association’s Public Interest Committee recently published a new white paper on on the federal self-referral law also known as the “Stark Law” which looks at and considers what, if any, changes to the Stark Law might be beneficial under the current health care system and the proposed reform efforts.
The [...]
A new report prepared by West Virginia University researchers examines the the Mountain Health Choices Program, one of the two redesigned West Virginia Medicaid plans to target improving the long-term health of West Virginia Medicaid beneficiaries through engaging beneficiaries to become more involved in their health care.
Today’s Charleston Gazette reports on the release and outcome [...]