As HIT Professionals, you need to understand health record retention requirements

Professional Practice Activity

As HIT Professionals, you need to understand health record retention requirements. Many of these requirements are influenced by internal policy and external regulations. Your ability to effectively make decisions depends on retention impact cost, storage space, and compliance. The following information by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provides guidance and answers to many questions on health record retention.

For this assignment, go to the CMS Website. Search for information and guidance on health record retention requirements to answer the following questions.

1. Would HIPAA preempt state laws if state laws are more stringent than HIPAA laws? Briefly explain.
2. It is true that the HIPAA Privacy Rule, 45 CFR 164.530 (c), it includes all medical record retention requirements you need to follow? Briefly explain.
3. Where would you find HIPAA administrative simplification rules for covered entities on retention requirements of health record documentation?
4. How long does CMS require Medicare managed care programs providers to retain records?
5. The Medicare program requires that medical records need to be in what format to be audited?
6. What agency has developed the initial set of standards and certification for EHRs in order to promote health information exchange and interoperability?
7. What is a core requirement for physicians and other providers to qualify to receive incentive payments under “HITECH Act”?
8. What does HITECH stand for?
9. What is the CMS website for information on the EHR Incentive Program?

As requirements are changing for EHR technology, it is important that you, as an HIT professional, understand the requirements and who is responsible for overseeing standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for EHRs.

1. List two (2) links to websites provided by CMS that provide additional information to health care providers.

Submit your completed assignment by following the directions linked below. Please check the Course Calendar for specific due dates.

Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document. (Mac users, please remember to append the “.docx” extension to the filename.) The name of the file should be your first initial and last name, followed by an underscore and the name of the assignment, and an underscore and the date. An example is shown below:

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Answer Preview……….

The HIPAA privacy rule offers a Federal background of privacy protections for people with identifiable health information and that information is retained by a covered organization. Therefore, the state laws, which are contrary to the HIPAA privacy rule are preempted only if there are precise exceptions. The exceptions can apply if the state laws provide for reporting of disease, public health surveillance, child abuse, death, or birth. On the other hand, when the state laws are more stringent than HIPAA then the latter would preempt state laws specifically if they require shorter periods……….

APA 706 words