Understanding HIPAA Privacy and HIPAA Security

Unlike earlier times, we now see an increased number of regulations and security standards implemented by the government to ensure information security and privacy. HIPAA or the ‘Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’ of 1996 was issued to address the security and privacy concerns in the healthcare industry. This act has two sections referred to as Title I and Title II. Title I deals with healthcare access, portability and renewability while Title II also known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions,deals with medical liability reform and measures and civil and criminal penaltiesto prevent health care fraud and abuse.

The objective behind the drafting of the Administrative Simplification provisionsis to improve the efficiency of the health care system by setting up rules and guidelines regarding the use and disclosure of healthcare information. The Administrative Simplification provisions consist of five rules namely, the Privacy Rule, the Transactions and Code Sets Rule, the IT security and compliance Rule, the Unique Identifiers Rule, and the Enforcement Rule.These rules are applicable to covered entities and their business associates. Employer sponsored health plans, health insurers, health care clearinghouses, and certain health care providers are grouped under covered entities while business associates refer to those persons and businesses whose services are used by the covered entities.

The Privacy Rule
The HIPAA privacy rule deals with the rules and standards that need to be implemented to ensure the confidentiality of Protected Health Information (PHI), which includes details such as health status, medical record, payment history and so on.
Covered entities are therefore mandated to:

  • Disclose PHI to the individual within 30 days of receiving the request.
  • Disclose PHI of an individual to rightful authorities in special cases like child abuse.
  • Make sure that under no circumstances the PHI of an individual is accessed by unauthorized people.
  • Disclose PHI with or without the individual’s permission if and only if it facilitates treatment, payment or operations. However, covered entities must make sure to disclose only those details required for attaining the purpose.
  • Act upon the request of an individual to correct inaccurate details in PHI.
  • To take all the necessary steps to ensure that any kind of communication with the individual does not leak out.
  • To track all the disclosures made.
  • Be congnizant of the privacy policies and procedures.
  • To make the requisite arrangements for receiving complaints.

In the second part of this article, we will delve in to the security aspects of HIPAA. With the drafting of HIPAA, healthcare industry witnessed rapid changes in the handling of PHI. HIPAA compliance definitely is a right step in the right direction.

Read on - Hitech compliance, ISO compliance

A Motivational HR Model That Spews Delightful Effects

Human resource management has become one of the most vital processes in business with intense impacts. An incorrect plan can take a toll on your business performances. When you hire employees you have to ensure that you have the ideal professionals that can help your business achieve the objectives without wasting precious time and finances. Human resource issues have to be dealt with care and diligence and everybody cannot be successful. You need to outsource the HR operations to experts who have the proficiency to maintain a balanced and uninterrupted operation that delivers ecstatic results.

When you partner with the HR outsourcing service providers your costs are reduced largely with the scalable, reliable and customizable strategies. The service providers are global human resource management consultants who have extensive knowledge and experience in tackling all HR issues effectively. They are equipped with the right choice of solutions that help you meet the global HR demands. They exercise discretion when hiring the right candidates so that are spared from desolate sufferings.

The HR professionals assess the business requirements and availability of resources before they recommend the best employee healthcare benefits and compensation benefits. The tax planning and tax compliance services that they provide are beneficial for you as well as your employees. The retirement solutions that they provide are based on the ERISA compliance policies ensuring that the employees are provided maximum coverage. These professionals are also aware of the compliance regulations that are applicable for conserving the environment. Therefore they will only deploy practices that are acceptable as per the compliance standards.

The advisory services rendered by the HR outsourcing vendors also include the best global payroll solutions to keep your employees satisfied and committed. With the HR solutions you are guaranteed a smooth human resource management operation and opportunities to focus on leveraging the core competencies of your business. You can see vast benefit differences when you compare the processes being handled by experts and non-experts. The experts have faced similar challenges and have the capability to overcome them successfully with minimal damages.

What you can achieve in a matter of few hours with the help of the professionals may not be possible if you try it alone. By the time you realize the futility of such exercises you will have lost time and money on ineffective strategies. In business you have to think of the future repercussions and make your moves intelligently.

Read Also On : Human Resources Solutions

 

Filing US Taxes from India Made Simple

Tax treatments for expats have always troublesome. While US India tax laws are complex enough, tax treaties and other taxations related issues can get all the more confusing. US Expats or Expatriates are taxable on worldwide income for their lifetime, unless they expatriate- surrender their US citizenship or Legal Permanent Residence or green card. It is always a good idea to be armed with a comprehensive checklist of information for the US person to consider prior to choosing to renounce US citizenship or legal permanent residence or prior to accepting an assignment outside the U.S.

 

What you need to keep in mind while taking up a foreign assignment


When a US person is thinking of accepting a foreign assignment, it must be remembered that all United States (U.S.) citizens, green card holders and individuals meeting the Substantial Presence Test (SPT) are considered U.S. resident aliens. All U.S. resident aliens are subject to U.S. Federal taxation on their worldwide calendar year income for life, regardless of where their income is earned, the currency or where the income is deposited. The U.S. income tax reporting period is a calendar year- January 1 to December 31- inclusively, regardless of the fiscal year tax reporting period in your current country of residence. The statutory resident tests are typically conjoined with 183 days of presence rule and a permanent place of abode pretext, the latter of which is typically vague. The U.S. is the only country in the world that assesses tax liability based upon taxpayers’ legal immigration status as a citizen.

Professional help can simplify the matter


Taking advice from the professionals will save you from paying double taxes and those who are not aware of this fact can end up paying more. Although expats are entitled to certain privileges, understanding the finer nuances of the legal implications is extremely important.  Taking the help of a tax advisor can help in giving you the right advice regarding US India tax or any kind of business tax return and prevent you from getting into any kind of legal complication. With the help of professional tax guidance, you can


* Plan now and pay lower taxes later

* File your taxes effortlessly

* Be compliant with IRS and Indian IT department


Taking advice from the professionals will save you from paying double taxes both in your home country and host country. Those who are not aware of this fact can end up paying more. With adequate precaution and advice from a professional you can be free of your tax burdens.


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Anti Phishing Tool: Defending the Corporate Network

Technological innovations over the years have paved way for the wide spread use of the Internet and have given birth to a globalized business world well connected through Internet and corporate networks. However, communicating through these networks must be a blessing for the profit–centered organization, but security is at stake as threats to the organizational and individual data and information looms large.

 

One such threat attempt is the technique to acquire usernames and passwords from electronic communication channels by concealing the identity under the coverage of trustworthy entities. Termed as Phishing, these were earlier reported in 1987 and use social engineering techniques to exploit the weak web security technologies and deceive users. As years rolled by more and more organizations have become technologically dependent, giving rise to a number of phishing techniques. The targeted versions of phishing attacks are termed as Spear Phishing.

 

Further technological enhancement has also led to fraudsters creating identical or cloned email better known as clone phishing for attacking unsuspecting individual email addresses. Other techniques include whaling, link manipulation, filter evasion, website forgery, phone phishing, tabnabbing, evil twins etc. Of these the latest of the phishing technique is tabnabbing, which takes advantage of the multiple tabs used by the user to redirect them to the effected location on the web. Evil twins – the phishing technique is hard to detect.

 

However, to avoid the damages amounting to vast financial losses both at organizational and individual levels through phishing attacks, organizations tend take up a number of phishing protection measures. These include anti-phishing tools, phishing awareness program, anti phishing working groups for legislative enforcements, security model browsers and browser alerts for detection of fraudulent websites. With social engineering and phishing becoming the major threats, the anti phishing tools should be aimed more towards the people risk more than the process and technology.

 

Employees being the weak links in any corporate network, the leaders in the field of network security have designed and developed phishing diagnostic solutions, which make use of automated tool installed within the organizational network for simulating phishing attacks. Since the targeted information range from individual’s private data health details, credit card and bank details to corporate data such as trade secrets, sales forecasts and business plans, can lead to financial loses both for the individual as well as the organization in question. The use of anti phishing tool such as simulating phishing attacks organizations are able to capture the potential reaction of any user during real attacks and leverage this for teaching, generating action plans, and employee awareness against future attacks, creating a first line of defence against just malicious acts.

 

Read Also On : Simulated phishing attack

Who are Your Business Associates and How Vulnerable Are You For their Non-Compliance?

Business associates are individuals or organizations that are involved in activities that require the use of protected health information (PHI). The business associates may provide services in claims processing, administration, data analysis, data processing, reviews, quality assurance, billing, benefit management, practice management, re-pricing, etc. According to the rules, business associates are not authorized to use or disclose the personal health information for any other purpose other than mentioned in the contract. Violation of the contract leads to termination of the contract.


Though every contract has to be followed duly by the business associates, there is no guarantee that all of them will fulfill the terms and conditions as mentioned in the contract. Although there are various other reasons why your healthcare organization may fall prey to security breaches business associates are a potential risk. Many investigations have revealed business associates to be the main cause of security breaches.


Even if your healthcare organization has been maintaining high security protocols, the practices followed by your business associates may be ineffective and outdated. This may provide an easy access for the online threats to infiltrate your systems and render irreversible damage. You need to employ solutions that provide security services considering your business associates too. The solutions can be deployed with the help of the automated compliance management software.


The software delivers state-of-the-art technology with exceedingly capabilities such as consistent and real-time monitoring and reporting facilities. This service helps you to get an assessment of the compliance levels that your business associate is expected maintain, in doing business with your organization. The compliance solutions are scalable and flexible and can be easily integrated to collaborate with several other compliance frameworks without causing obstructions in the performance levels.


The software provides a comprehensive and simple platform and ensures that you are provided with compliance updates regularly and automatically. It executes stringent authentication and risk assessment programs for detecting vulnerabilities and addresses them effectively. It minutely scans all information to check for any indication of risks. It also schedules regular audits with an exhaustive audit log. It provides high visibility regarding your business processes and the existing compliance status. It tracks and manages the compliance documentation of the business associates.


The compliance management software is a complete vulnerability management. It is a cost-effective healthcare compliance solution that facilitates small and medium sized businesses largely to benefit from high ROI without any additional investments. The automated processes ensure a smooth and efficient operation with a proactive and intelligent plan of action.


Read on - HIPPA compliance, PCI compliance

Making the Best Use of Facebook Analytics

Social media analytics are essential in today’s business sphere as it enables enterprises to offer customized customer service and enhances brand reputation in easy-to-find profiles. Social network analysis is fast becoming a popular phenomenon amidst the wireless operators. However, there are many who are still wary of openly discussing how they have been using this analysis owing to probable backlash over subscriber privacy concerns. Social networking analysis is a kind of analytical scoring system that facilitates communication service providers to analyze their data to identify social calling circles amongst contacts.


Such social analytics have both offensive and defensive implications, such as:-


* From the offensive viewpoint, this analytics can enable operators target or up-sell offers based on subscriber preferences and the applications that are popular amidst the subscriber’s circle of trust.

* From the defensive perspective, social analytics enables the operators to spot the key influencers via the calling patterns in a certain social group.


Today there are social analytics algorithms that are utilized to determine the level of social engagement and its impact on brands.  Let us elucidate this with the help of an example. Of the social networking sites Facebook has gained prominence in the past few years. Though it initially started out as a social networking site but is gradually becoming well known amongst the business sphere as well. Facebook with its purpose built social analytics tools enables in increasing and measuring your online effectiveness. Facebook offers a completely new paradigm for estimating interactive marketing, extending your social reach, increasing retention and ultimately help in generating greater revenue.


Today eminent service providers have introduced Facebook analytics tools that effectively evaluates the success if your Facebook campaigns. This is done by making use of a combination of analytical smarts and creative analytics tools that offers quick results for businesses and helps them to keep a track of web data and attain real-time distribution. At the same time, there are engagement metrics that helps to attain instant feedback on how the content is performing. This enables enterprises to optimize products, features, content and campaigns .


Furthermore, there is an easy-to-use visualization interface that offers drill down capacities and trending views. This provides you with perceptive insights that help to make smarter operating decisions across huge social data. Finally, with the perceptive insights that you’ve attained from Facebook analytics tools helps you in viral campaigns. It also gives you a clear view on what keeps the customer engaged, what does not and discovers trends that impact revenues.

A Steely Defense to Cripple Phishing Attacks

Phishing activities are causing distress and damage at alarming rates. The only reason why these notorious activities are getting encouragement is because the operations are inconspicuous and it rarely raises a doubt in the minds of the victims. Everybody is not tech-savvy. Nor are they aware of the potential threats lurking in the vicinity. The phishing criminals have wrecked the lives of many innocent people.

They send emails to the victims from fake websites that look exactly like the original websites. These emails ask the victims to share their confidential information for bank related purposes. The victims think the emails are sent by the genuine banks and financial institutions and have no qualms in clicking on the links and opening the attachments. As soon as the victim makes this mistake all his information is stored in the fake website and within no time his finances are drained into the pockets of unknown sources.

If you run a business you know very well that you cannot avoid the threats which are ubiquitously present in the IT environment. If you take precautions on time you will be saved from the same fate that others have suffered. You need to ensure that the employees in your business are aware of phishing operations and the intentions of such unscrupulous entities. It is imperative to train them to identify and address all phishingattacks efficiently so that your business does not suffer any fatal consequences.

You need robust anti phishing tools that provide you with strategies to handle the risks effectively. The tools launch a simulated phishing attack on your employees to study their awareness levels and their reactions. The simulated phishing attack is an excellent exercise to prepare your employees in advance so that they are not at a loss to handle emergency situations when the real attacks happen.

The tools closely study the behavior of the employees during the test attack and record them for a further analysis. Once the test is completed your employees are sent the reports through personalized emails. These emails show how well they have performed and propose better phishing protection strategies. Recovering losses after phishing attacks can be a brutal process and you are not sure how much it would cost you to clean up the mess. Therefore it is wiser to employ tools that provide you a safety net so that you can quickly stand up after a nasty fall and without too many bruises.

What to Look for When Buying Foreclosed Homes in Clorado

Whether it’s about buying your dream house, or about making a real-estate investment, foreclosed properties offer a great variety to choose from. With a wide range of homes up for sale at highly affordable prices, foreclosed properties are now much sought after. Colorado is one of the foreclosure hotspots today with a good number of foreclosed properties for sale. It’s one of those areas where you can find great properties at prices that suit every budget. However, before investing in foreclosed homes, here are some things you should remember:

Research carefully. Foreclosed homes are undoubtedly a major opportunity for you to find a good dealbut you have to be careful not to make hasty decisions. The best way to do this is to find out as much as you can about the foreclosed property you intend to buy. Banks in Colorado have hired many reliable REO property agents to sell foreclosed properties. These agents may provide the necessary information to help you find a good deal.

Cash in on free information. When you decide to buy a foreclosed property you need to find out a number of things about the property, such as the financial implications, the liens and back taxes on the property, etc. To do this, you can make use of various sources of free information. The department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or the City Hall in the area can provide such information. Such information is available for free; do not be tricked by agents or websites offering such information for a fee.

Inspect the property. When buying a foreclosed home, do not forget to examine the property. Not all properties listed in Colorado’s foreclosure listings are sold in the best of conditions. There may be a range of problems, such as plumbing leaks or cracks which need to be fixed, which could mean additional expenditure for you. You may examine the property yourself, or hire a professional home inspector.

Get professional help. Buying a foreclosed home is not as easy as you may imagine. It involves many more formalities and procedures than a regular purchase. Hiring an experienced real estate agent or lawyer who can guide you through the purchase and help you complete the process and paperwork can save you both time and stress.   
Often, buying a house is a dream come true. It’s a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience, which you don’t want to go wrong with. While foreclosed homes present a major opportunity for you to become a proud owner of a house, it is also important that you do not plunge into a deal without enough groundwork. Keep this checklist in mind and identify the best deal that comes you way.

Know more on:
·  Reo foreclosure

Medical Writing Services Offered By CRO’s

Medical writing has become an essential part of the pharmaceutical industry today. The key qualities of an able medical writer are possessing flawless English language skills, having a flair for writing, having the capability to represent medical information precisely and identifying the audience. Other qualities include commitment to quality work, possessing team skills and the capacity to meet deadlines.

 

Generally it is the Clinical Research Organizations (CRO) and other communication agencies that hire medical writers in a recurrent basis. These CRO’s offers medical writing services for the whole clinical trial development program.

 

The kind of work that the medical writer needs to do differs from one institution to that other. Medical writers associated with CRO’s and pharmaceutical organizations are generally involved with regulatory document preparation. On the other hand, writers who are associated with communication agencies deals in preparing marketing and promotional documents. Medical writers also take interest in preparing scientific documents at every level of drug development, for which medical companies have a separate division of expert medical writing teams. Sometimes these writers are involved in consultancy services, for offering data on document, regulatory requirements, templates, product styling and branding, protocol information, quality control as well as the product marketing and presentation. However, senior and experienced Medical Writers are adept on managing additional responsibilities for instance offering information in drug development programs, data analysis, trial designs and many others.


Medical institutions and CRO’s in India have their medical writing teams that are experienced and qualified to cater to the needs of multiple regulatory report guidelines. The teams here assure that all the important regulatory submission documents are concise, clear and are accurate both medically and scientifically. They also ensure that it is compliant with all applicable regulatory and ICH guidelines with submission reports offered in eCTD and CTD formats. The team in trained well in combining abstracts, manuscripts and publications. The main medical services consist of the following:-


* Protocol

* Investigatigator brochures

* Informed consent documents

* Case report forms

* Study reports

* Common Technical Documents

* eCTD

* Scientific papers for publication

* Med X view for e filing

* Submission-ready documentation (Hyperlinked eCTD formatting)

* Clinical reporting

* Clinical study reports

* Integrated safety and efficacy reports

* Pharmacovigilance and safety reports

* Presentations, posters and manuscripts

* Scientific papers and abstracts

Eminent CRO’s in India has successfully demonstrated the experience in catering to international reporting requirements for Medical Writing, as specified by numerous sponsors and agencies. Hence, one can expect a quick turn around time for every final report.  

Know more on Clinical Pharmacokinetic, Biometric services

Clinical Laboratory and Their Role in Drug Development

Medical tests and researches that are performed in clinical laboratories play an important role in diagnosis, detection and treatment of any disease. Technologists practicing here are called medical technologists or clinical laboratory scientists. They examine tissues, cells, and body fluids. Furthermore, they match blood for transfusions and also test the drug levels in blood analyzing how a particular patient is responding to a treatment. They make use of the automated instruments and equipments, cell counters, microscopes and other modern laboratory devices.


Recently, with the increase of medical activities in India, there are eminent CRO’s specializing in innovative clinical laboratory services. Such a laboratory is the core of numerous studies and research activities that are approved by NABL and CAP. The laboratory houses testing program along with international and national labs for maintaining quality control. Furthermore, it is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, modern day medical devices as well as impeccable logistics. The most import aspect of a clinical laboratory is that they have highly experienced and trained personnel, who are in turn backed up by age technological devices as their aid comprising the latest Laboratory Information Management System. This is meant for any online information transfer and it ensures less turnaround time with commendable levels of quality and consistency.


Apart from helping in clinical trials, there are few other clinical laboratory services centers around a wide range of investigations. They are:-


* Hematology

* Biochemistry

* Serology

* Urine Analysis

* Capabilities for other tests


Regulatory compliance services & QA too forms an essential part of eminent CRO offering clinical laboratory services.  There is a dedicated group for audit compliance and regulatory services that is assisted by a vast knowledge pool on regulatory processes and innovative liaison with numerous regulatory agencies that ensure efficient in medical trial approval processes. The wide range of regulatory services provided are as follows:-


* Formulation of regulatory strategies

* Compilation of the clinical trial application

* Submission and follow-up of the application

* Response to regulatory agency queries

* Procurement of drug import licenses

* Procurement of NOC for export of biological samples

* Tracking of applications and approvals

* Safety Reporting

* Submission of Clinical Safety Report (CSR)

* Renewal of Import License


Research and studies, such as Phase I studies too are also an area in which clinical laboratories play an important part. These studies promote better treatment and drug development to the chronic diseases and other abnormalities.


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