Health Insurance, medical insurance and individual health insurance plans.

Health insurance is something that everyone needs today. The rising cost of visiting a health care provider or a hospital stay makes it imperative that everyone have some type of health care coverage. Government statistics estimate that over 40 million people in America are not covered by any type of health insurance on any given day. That's an enormous number of people who really are taking a financial risk.

The best information on individual Health Insurance.

While most Americans are able to obtain some type of health insurance through their place of employment, many others, the underemployed, the self-employed and the unemployed simply don't know where to find good, quality coverage at a fair price. The Census Bureau estimates that nearly 15% of the population has no coverage. The long term effects of this are hard to quantify because it means that young children do not see a health care provider unless they are seriously ill. Unfortunately this approach while appearing to save money can be devastating to the long term health of the child.

Health care providers and other experts all recommend that every one have some type of health insurance for the necessary time when they'll need to visit their Doctor or hospital.

Mike Yeager

http://www.a1-healthinsurance-4u.com/

mjy610@hotmail.com

Fortis Health Insurance Is a Name You Can Trust!

Fortis Health Insurance Is a Name You Can Trust!

 by: Mike Yeager

Fortis health insurance has been a widely recognized name in the insurance since 1892. It has proven itself and won the trust of people around the world. Fortis health insurance is committed to providing the best solutions possible to meet your insurance needs.

There are a great variety of plans available. Fortis short term health insurance is of great use to those who are temporarily uninsured. Students can find Fortis short term health insurance tailored especially for them. From complete coverage to a specific prescription plan, Fortis health insurance will have what you are looking for.

Fortis health insurance is a driving force behind the new Health Savings Accounts, known as HSAs. An HSA works like an IRA, except that the money is used to pay health care costs. The money deposited and the interest earned are tax-deductible, and the money can be withdrawn to pay medical bills, tax-free. This is becoming a very popular method of helping pay for your current medical needs, and safe-guarding for your future.

Fortis health insurance is changing its name to Assurant Health. Rest assured that there will be no change at all in the high quality service and dependability that people around the world have come to expect from Fortis health insurance.

Mike Yeager

Publisher

http://www.a1-healthinsurance-4u.com/

Health Insurance: The-More-The-Better, Or No-More-HMO?

---------------------------------------------------------- TITLE: Health Insurance: The-More-The-Better, Or No- More-HMO?
AUTHOR: Irina
LENGTH: 571 words
FORMAT: 58 characters per line CONTACT: irbonness@ureach.com --------------------------CUT HERE------------------------

Health Insurance: The-More-The-Better, Or No-More-HMO?

========================================================== The author grants permission to publish this article, in its entirety, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included. Other articles by Irina are available from http://www.megaone.com/hbb/savemoney/articles.html ==========================================================

In the movie "John Q," Academy award winner Denzel Washington fights the HMO restrictions to provide the necessary cure for his dying son. When such a lackluster topic like health insurance generates enough drama for a Hollywood movie, you know that something must be seriously wrong...

The problem indeed is severe. Almost 45 million Americans are uninsured and the number continues to rise. Those still insured are frustrated by the double-digit premium increases outpacing all other sectors of the economy. High costs and HMO limitations discourage seeking an immediate medical help. As a result, "little aches" often develop into the life-threatening illnesses and financial disasters for some unfortunate individuals and further escalate already intolerably high health care costs for the rest of us.

To endure the existing health care crisis, we all must recognize one simple fact. There are TWO DIFFERENT LEVELS of health care needs that must be covered with two separate tiers of payment. One level is catastrophic illness - and for that, insurance may still be the answer. Policies that carry a high deductible (say $5,000 a year) are relatively inexpensive, even when the coverage is very high ($1 million or more) or unlimited. That is because most people do not get catastrophic illnesses or injuries.

In fact, most of us only need health maintenance and routine medical procedures that comprise a totally different level of health care needs. For these, the present INSURANCE-based model is not the answer because it is financially incompatible with any efficient HEALTH CARE system.

Everyone knows that the INSURANCE works best when the fewest number of participants actually use it (i.e. make claims). Then the system generates profit, which lowers the premium that, in turn, brings more paying participants. The participants are happy NOT TO USE the insurance, especially if it does not cost them too much. On the contrary, the HEALTH CARE system works best when the most people use it (i.e. get teeth cleaning, checkups and vaccinations).

Fortunately, back in the 1980s, the idea of so-called patient advocacy via health care savings programs was introduced to the U.S. These programs negotiate prices with health care providers on behalf of their members. Since they represent large groups, the resulting discounts are usually the same that the hospitals and physicians give to big insurance companies.

This innovative approach benefits medical providers because they get paid "on the spot" without enormous paperwork and disputes with insurance companies. It also benefits you and me by providing an access to the discounted "insurance rates" without high premiums.

Many of such programs also allow their members to contribute money to medical savings accounts that are tax deductible or not taxable. Monthly membership fee is affordable and no one can be turned down because of a pre- existing condition.

It does not look like the current health care crisis is going to have a Hollywood-style "happy ending". It's up to us to analyze the situation and find the solution... otherwise, the next blockbuster about healthcare may well be a horror movie.

========================================================== About the Author:
Irina helps people save money on healthcare and create steady stream of residual income working from home http://www.megaone.com/hbb/savemoney/ ==========================================================

Irina helps people save money on healthcare and create steady stream of residual income working from home http://www.megaone.com/hbb/savemoney/

The Modern Medical Office: Balancing Success, Technology, and HIPAA

The medical field has always depended on technology for improving patient care. Thanks to advances in technology, administrative functions of healthcare offices have greatly increased their efficiency and customer relations. For example, there is technology that allows doctors to share information with offices across street or across the nation instantly with just a few clicks of the mouse. These advances not only free up hours of paperwork, but also quickly provides information vital to patient?s care.

The Electronic Medical Office & HIPAA A clinic can in the end be more profitable by offering these innovative services. Nearly half of the people interviewed in a Forrester Research study said they would be willing to pay more for online features; such email access to their doctors. (1)

While technology can be tremendously beneficial there are serious cautions that must be heeded. In 2003, the privacy rule of HIPAA was enacted and the rules governing protected health information (PHI) of patients became far more stringent. The rule governs the way in which information is handled. It requires every level of communication and storage of the PHI to be secure and private.(2) Examples of the ways violations occur are:

• Computer screens visible from waiting room
• Files left out around the office
• PHI not disposed of properly, such as securely shredded
• Records sent to the wrong home or email address

Due to these changes all modes of communication have a heavier burden of responsibility placed upon them since the inclusion of the privacy rule, but none more than electronic transmissions. Keeping the information protected when sending emails, which can be intercepted, can in itself be a daunting task.

HIPAA?s Penalties If an action taken by any employee, whether intentional, unintentional, or simply neglectful leads to improper recipient of PHI, the practice involved could face serious consequences.

• The civil penalties range from "$100 per incident, up to $25,000 per person, per year, per standard that is violated."(3)
• The criminal penalties range in three main groups. The first is up to $50,000 and 1 year in prison, moving up to $100,000 and 5 years, or $250,000 and 10 years in prison.

Each tier of the criminal penalties has different qualifications leading up to the knowingly disclosing PHI with the intent for malicious harm. (3)

Keeping Your Practice HIPAA Compliant
It?s important for today?s electronic medical office to have several layers of digital protection. This ensures PHI or any other private information cannot go outside the confines of the practices? systems without the proper digital rights. These rights can be controlled by moderators or even the sender and have the ability to dictate what permissions the receiver may have.

One large step is to protect your practice from accidentally sending information into the wrong hands. This can be done through email anti-theft solutions which encrypts the data sent via email. By using these types of programs, the sender may control not only the security of the file but also subsequent actions that may be carried out by the file?s recipient(s).

email anti-theft programs allow the user to establish who can view, edit, print and forwarding these important health records. Permissions set with email anti-theft software stays with the documents once they?ve left the clinic?s computer.

What Happens if My Practice?s Computer is Stolen?
Email anti-theft software can also protect the data on the computer if the machine is ever misplaced or stolen. This can be done through remote laptop security. All the victim of theft has to do is log into the program and there remotely block access to all protected files on the missing laptop. Without improvement in the means of securing and transmitting their files many practices will continue to commit violations of HIPAA, losing money and patients along the way.

HIPAA Compliance & Patient Trust
It is obvious that one must comply with HIPAA because of the financial penalties that go with noncompliance. There are however, far better reasons for compliance than avoiding punishment.

HIPAA Violations can break the trust between doctors and patients, but compliance along with new technology can strengthen relationships. When patients have new services such as the ability to ask questions to doctors via email the doctors can enhance their trust levels. This is especially important for small practices as interpersonal relationships play key roles for the retention of patients.

The advantages of technology will continue to provide new ways of serving patients. As the digital age comes the computer will increasingly become the focus of record keeping. With an industries like medical & healthcare so dependent on keeping detailed yet secure records, it is going to be ever important to stay current with strong security programs to encrypt and protect files.

1. Bradford J. Holmes, Eric G. Brown, Elizabeth W. Boehm, Lynne Bishop, "Trends In Healthcare Consumer Technology Adoption" Forrester Research, 15 July 2004.
2. Title 45 Code of Federal Regulations, Pt 164.
3. United States Department of Health and Human Services. Protecting the Privacy of Patients' Health Information Summary of the Final Regulation. 2005. http://aspe.hhs.gov/admnsimp/final/pvcfact1.htm
   Michael David is a member of the marketing team at Essential Security Software (ESS), the leading provider of email anti-theft software for small business. He is a regular contributor to http://www.Iwantmyess.com.

HIPAA legislation guide

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA, which was enacted by the US Congress in 1996, has introduced to sweeping changes in health care administration and information systems. HIPAA is a federal law that has been amended to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which intends to improve portability and continuity of health insurance; combat waste, fraud and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery; promote the use of medical savings accounts and improve access to long-term health care services and coverage; and simplify the administration of health insurance.

HIPAA is designed to standardize the way all health care organizations electronically exchange sensitive patient data and to protect patients from unauthorized disclosure of their medical records (whether paper or electronic). Under HIPAA, there are specific standards that all health care organizations are required to adhere to. These standards include an Administrative Simplification Title that is aimed at preventing health care fraud and abuse. Within this title, there are several laws and proposed standards including Electronic Health Transactions Standards, Privacy & Confidentiality Standards, Unique Health Identifiers, and Security & Electronic Signature Standards.

These HIPAA laws and standards directly apply to the following groups of health care entities: health plans, public and private payers, health care insurers, HMOs, Medicare, Medicaid, group health plans, health care clearinghouses, any entity that facilitates the processing of non-standard formatted health information and must convert the non-standard data into standard transactions, or vice versa, Health Care Providers, providers who transmit health information electronically, providers who receive individual health information, and providers who electronically maintain health information used in electronic transmissions between entities.

Non-compliance with HIPAA regulations may cause disruptions in an organization's day-to-day business processes, resulting in both tangible and intangible costs. The most serious implications of HIPAA non-compliance for health care organizations include the inability to effectively conduct electronic business and the potential of losing significant segments of business. The government also imposes some sanctions on those who fail to comply with the regulations of HIPAA. The penalty for failure to comply with regulations goes up to $100 per violation per person up to a maximum of $25,000 per year. Penalty for knowingly and wrongfully disclosing individually identifiable health information is up to $50,000 per violation or one year imprisonment or both for simple offense; up to $100,000 per violation or five years imprisonment or both if the offense is "under false pretenses"; and up to $250,000 or ten years imprisonment or both if committed with intent to sell, transfer or use for commercial advantage, personal gain or malicious harm.

Thus, the ultimate objective of HIPAA is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of health information systems through improvements in electronic health care transactions as well as to maintain the security and privacy of individually identifiable health information. It helps to promote the modernization of health information systems. Becoming HIPAA-compliant is a challenging task because of extensive cross-departmental compliance and training requirements but it is an ongoing administration, privacy and security challenge that must be constantly addressed.

Mansi gupta recommends that you visit HIPAA legislation for more information

7 Steps To NPI For HIPAA-Compliant Electronic Medical Billing Software And Service

The Administrative Simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) mandated the adoption of standard unique identifiers for health care providers, as well as the adoption of standard unique identifiers for health plans. They become mandatory on May 23, 2007.

The purpose of these provisions is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the electronic transmission of health information. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has developed the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) to assign these unique identifiers.

CMS has contracted with Fox Systems, Inc. to serve as the NPI Enumerator. The NPI Enumerator is responsible for dealing with health plans and providers on issues relating to unique identification.

HCFA Timetable

Changes in the HCFA 1500 form to accommodate the NPI number took place January 1, 2007. Until March 30, 2007, using NPI number on the HCFA form is optional but as of April 2, 2007, using NPI becomes mandatory.

Getting an NPI is free - Not Having One Can Be Costly: If you delay applying for your NPI, you risk your cash flow.

 

1. Enumerate: Enumeration is mandatory for both individual providers and organizations and subparts. When applying for your NPI, CMS urges you to include your legacy identifiers, not only for Medicare but for all payors. If reporting a Medicaid number, include the associated State name. This information is critical for payors in the development of crosswalks to aid in the transition to the NPI.
2. Update: Make sure to upgrade your software, HIPAA Transactions, CMS1500, UB04, and/or Dental claim form changes.
3. Communicate: Notify your payers once you have obtained your NPI number. As outlined in the Federal Regulation (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)) you must also share your NPI with other providers, health plans, clearinghouses, and any entity that may need it for billing purposes -- including designation of ordering or referring physician.
4. Collaborate: Check the readiness of your payment partners (such as health plans, TPAs, clearinghouses, etc...)? Not all payers are ready to accept the NPI number at this time. Use both your existing (legacy) number and the NPI number when submitting electronic claims.
5. Test: Test transactions well before the deadline. Make sure to test HIPAA Transactions, e.g., 837 Claims, 835 Remittance Advice, and, if you submit paper claims, verify that the data is printed in the correct fields. The new HCFA form has new fields for identifier numbers on lines 17b, 32a and 33a.
6. Educate: Focus on staff working on insurance verification of eligibility and claim denial or underpayment follow up.
7. Implement: Once you obtain your NPI, it might take about 120 days to do the remaining wo

   rk to use it. This includes working on your internal billing systems, coordinating with billing services, vendors, and clearinghouses, testing with payers.

   Yuval Lirov, PhD, author of Practicing Profitability - Network Effect for Revenue Cycle Control in Healthcare Clinic and Chiropractic Office: Scheduling, SOAP Notes, Care Plans, Coding, Billing, Collections, and Audit Risk (Affinity Billing) and Mission Critical Systems Management (Prentice Hall), inventor of patents in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Security, and CEO of Vericle.net - Distributed Billing and Practice Management Technologies. Yuval invites you to register to the next webinar on audit risk at BillingPrecision.com

HIPAA in a "Nutshell" - Guidelines for EMR and Paper Medical Records Compliance

HIPAA in a “nutshell”

There are two HIPAA rules requirements; privacy (2003) and security (2005). Both rules require:

-Identifying possible threats,
-Assessing specific vulnerabilities,
-Determining appropriate and reasonable safeguards and
-Implementing the necessary defense mechanisms and policies.

Using an EMR (electronic medical record) has no absolute right and wrongs in either computer equipment or software for HIPAA compliance. Usually there are four areas to examine:

-Physical Security – can your computers with patient data be stolen?
-User Security - can anybody log on to the patient database?
-System Security – what happens on a hard drive crash?
-Network Security – can unauthorized persons outside your facility access patient data?

Using paper medical records begs similar questions:

-Physical Security – how secure are the files from fire and theft?
-User Security - what access controls and logging is there?
-System Security – what happens in a fire or flood?
-Storage Access – are the files in a locked, secure area?

There are HIPAA penalties

The civil monetary penalty is up to $100 per person record per violation and up to $25,000 per year total for the same type of violation. There is 30 days to correct the problem if it is not through willful neglect.

The criminal penalties are for “misuse” and for obtaining or using health information by “false pretenses” or with the intent to sell, transfer or use it for commercial advantage, personal gain or malicious harm. These penalties are up to $250,000 and five years in jail.

Currently there is no real effective enforcement body.

HIPAA compliance "thumb rules"

With an EMR most of the requirements are common sense and providers do not need to be overly concerned but do require some basic steps like:

-Put your computer server in a secure room, locked,
-Use an EMR with user management and permissions,
-Make regular back-ups and store them in a secure place and
-Employ a computer specialist.

Most medical practices and clinics using paper records need to make physical changes to be HIPPA compliant. If you continue to use paper then there are a myriad of physical complexities to consider:

-How to monitor staff access,
-Fire and flood protection (insurance is not enough)
-A disaster plan (that has been documented and practiced.)

Finally, if there is a legal case brought forward a provider to protect themselves should have a trail of how the patient's individual information was accessed. For paper records this means at a minimum a monitored sign out sheet and for an EMR user logging of patient file access.

Michael Milne is the CEO of BrunMed, Inc. (http://www.brunmed.com), the developer of Medscribbler, the first handwriting embedded EMR for the Tablet PC. Visit http://www.medscribbler.com for more information on a handwriting enabled EMR.