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Fax cover page – friend or foe?

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Blog

Fax cover pages often act as ‘dividers' to piles of paper – electronic or hard copy.  Many offices still receive faxes by hard copy – and this remains the default assumption as the ‘lowest common denominator'.  I think that the dividers still serve a purpose.

Perhaps more importantly, there is a common practice that the cover page is the identifier of where the document originated, the intended purpose the information was provided, who the information is addressed, and who authorized the sending of the information.

Often the cover page provides clarity to the identify of the individual the information is about.  Many healthcare providers use the cover page as their ‘disclosure log' to meet legislative compliance to clearly document disclosure of health information of a individual.  I don't think it is feasible to add the information to the source document.

The receiver of the information needs this information in order to determine if they will accept the responsibility of collecting the information and the purpose for that information.

Perhaps the better approach is to make the cover page more useful – to both the receiving and sending party – by improving the documentation and adding suggested indexing categories.  This can be easily generated if the sending party is using an EMR.

See also:  Canadian EMR http://blog.canadianemr.ca/canadianemr/2013/11/a-complication-of-paper-faxes.html

best practice, cover pages, disclosure log, EMR index, fax, health information, healthcare, template

On Demand Training

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Clinic Manager / Privacy Officer, Employee, Established Practice, New Practice, Vendor

Tips, tools, templates, and training that you can use right away!

Our our demand training series provides an opportunity for you to access practical resources that you can immediately put to work.

Join our newsletter list for notices of the next public training.

Custom training available for your teams – ask Jean!

 

Privacy Practice Review

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Clinic Manager / Privacy Officer, Established Practice, Services, Vendor

Demonstrate and ensure compliance to your privacy goals. A Privacy Review is an educational and consultative program that serves as a vehicle to identify best practices as well as opportunities for improvement.

Your medical office wants to promote a culture of respect for privacy and information security throughout the organization when providing patient care and accessing and disclosing protected health information.

To demonstrate and ensure continuing compliance to your privacy goals, a Privacy Review, is an educational and consultative program that serves as a vehicle to identify best practices as well as opportunities for improvement.

The Privacy Review is designed to be transparent in order to maximize the opportunity to impart knowledge and effect change.

Each review presents an opportunity to give members of your staff the information and tools that they need to protect patient privacy.

healthcare, Netcare, privacy compliance, reasonable safeguards, security compliance

Customized On-Site Training

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Clinic Manager / Privacy Officer, Established Practice, New Practice, Services, Vendor

You have individual needs, and so does your clinic.

We provide customized assessment and training, based on whatever gaps you may need to fill, whether they are related to your privacy needs, human resources, document management or business processes.

We'll help you streamline your processes, hire the best-fitting staff and make sure you run your business, instead of the other way around.

Please contact us to discuss your individual requirements.


Comments from participants following the Privacy Awareness In-Service Comments from Baker Clinic, June 2019:

What do you feel was the biggest benefit to attending this workshop?

“Refreshing information”

“Lots of useful and valuable information”

“Refresh on policies”

“How to safeguard yourself from privacy breach”

“To know the experiences of others with the patients and how to use them in future”

“Remembering what forms of identifiers to ask for”

“Learning how I can better protect my patient and myself”

“More in depth info about privacy and disclosing info”

“Hearing the answers to common questions of staff in the clinic”

“Updated health information Refresh on HIA rules, Netcare access and new information about MyHealth Alberta”

“Learning how to handle a privacy breach”


Want more information about customized training? Click here to download a flyer with more details.

Virtual Clinic Management Services (VCM)

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Uncategorized

Managing a clinic is sometimes more than a full time job. We provide support to your clinic or office manager, and can help streamline administrative roles so your office runs smoothly and efficiently.

Here are the ways we can help:

  • Hire administrative staff: We provide customized job descriptions, employee manuals, recruitment, reference checks, assistance with interviews and short list recommendations.
  • Project management: We provide support and guidance and can oversee installation as you decide on computer network, office automation, and Electronic Medical Records selection.
  • Records Management: We assist with space planning, workflow, automation, EMR implementation, trouble shooting, and follow-up. We'll help you develop your business case, assist with vendor selection, evaluate vendors and systems, and contribute to contract negotiation.
  • Office practice and workflow design: We assess your office administration workflow to maximize your efficiency. We'll provide strategic plans to optimize your current practices and plans for ongoing improvement. We will implement practical workflow designs to improve patient access, assess software options and prepare a short list of alternatives. Should you require it, we'll happily join you on-site for group facilitation.
  • Team Orientation: Have you hired health service providers, support, and administrative staff? We will develop and facilitate orientation as well as team development prior to your first day of patients. This will make your clinic operate smoothly and efficiently, with a strong team.
  • Clinic Manager Mentor: Starting a new clinic is a demanding task. Sometimes your new clinic manager needs additional support to grow into their role with confidence. We will mentor your clinic manager to ensure you are off to a good start in your business processes, human resources management, office automation and clinic workflow. We will help to assess priorities and find solutions to unexpected obstacles. Your mentor can be available by phone or on-site for regularly scheduled meetings.
  • Virtual Privacy Officer: The Health Information Act requires custodians of health information (physicians, etc.) to identify a Privacy Officer who is familiar with the applicable privacy legislation, privacy best practices, and privacy assessment methods. Their knowledge must be kept up to date because privacy legislation, methods, and technology are constantly changing. We provide mentorship and services on both a regular and as-needed basis. We offer the skills and expertise of full-time privacy experts who deal with privacy issues every day to assist your clinic to proactively manage privacy, confidentiality, and security best practices.

Alberta’s Health Information Act (HIA) Amendment

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Blog

The Health Information Act (HIA) was amended  was approved by Orders in Council on September 3, 2013.

The amendment includes:

Naming  a non‑regional health authority Family Care Clinic approved by the Minister as a custodian. (HIA s2(1)(g)).

Disclosure of registration information – For the purposes of section 36(c) of the Act, a custodian may disclose individually identifying registration information about an individual without the consent of the individual

(a)    to an ambulance attendant or ambulance operator under the Emergency Health Services Act,

(b)    to the Minister of Health or Minister of Human Services for the purpose of administering the Aids to Daily Living Program, or

(c)    to the Minister responsible for the Seniors Benefit Act and the Seniors’ Property Tax Deferral Act for the purpose of administering those Acts.

Remember to update your policies and procedures!  See our Document Management Tip for a sample policy update that you can use to insert into your Health Information Management and Security Manual.

Alberta, Alberta HIA Amendment, amendment, custodian, Family Care Clinic, HIA, policies, templates

Are your documents encrypted?

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Blog

Encrypting your documents is a strong step you can take to help prevent unwanted access to your files.

You can always purchase encrypting software, but did you know that Microsoft Office 2010 has encryption features already built into their applications? To encrypt any Microsoft Office 2010 document, you can click on the “File” tab, then click “Info“. You are then able to select “Encrypt with a Password“.

Remember to use a strong password for your encryption. Using a variety of symbols and upper-case or lower-case letters will make your password harder to decrypt, as will having a longer password. See Information Managers blog post “&Tgh2Crack!: How tough is your password?” for more tips on creating a strong password.

For more information and a step-by-step guide to encrypting your documents, click here!

Right to Know Week Sept 23-27

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Blog

(from Privacy and Access Council of Canada)

In celebration of the 10th annual international Right to Know Week, the Privacy and Access Council of Canada is again coordinating events across Canada to raise awareness, inform and engage citizens in discussion about access to information rights and responsibilities. The theme of this year’s Sunshine Summit will consider “Who’s Defending Your Right to Know?” and will offer a multi-part framework that includes educational materials, events, and the involvement of academic, government, and industry leaders across the country.

We anticipate that the recent coverage questioning government spending and conduct, the growing trend toward “oral government” at both the federal and provincial level, and revelations that the US, Canadian and European governments are engaging in secret surveillance of citizens, will generate much interest in this year's Sunshine Summit.

This year's Calgary Sunshine Summit will be held on Wednesday, September 25th. The full-day Summit includes refreshments and a light lunch, and will conclude with a workshop on how to craft effective FOI applications.

For security reasons pre-registration is required. For more information, see http://www.pacc-ccap.ca.

Do you link your phone to your gmail account?

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Blog

Google has access to WiFi passwords stored in Android mobile devices http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/17841/laws-and-regulations/goolge-ac…

Accepting defaults on your android phone – or accepting offers to link to your gmail account contact lists to ‘share' with your contacts your latest purchases, games you liked, or LinkedIn or Twitter comments – is a huge privacy risk.  And, in my opinion, far too easy to accept a pop-up window without realizing that you just granted permission for the program to access all your contacts.  (See my earlier post, Is Your Email Secure.)

Do you really need to use Gmail or other free email service providers for your business email service? If this causes a privacy breach, how ‘free' is the service?

email, gmail

15 Day Privacy Challenge Fall 2013

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Jean Eaton in Blog

The 15 Day Privacy Challenge is a fun, no cost educational opportunity on privacy and security.

How it Works:
Each day, for fifteen days, participants receive an e-mail with a privacy challenge. The task is a privacy or security best practice that can be used in home or business. Each email includes a short description about why this is a good practice, how to start it, and links to additional resources. Each challenge will take about 15 minutes to complete.

Registration opens soon!

We invite you to share this great opportunity with your clients. The 15 Day Privacy Challenge begins October 2013. Contact us today for promotional materials.
Help your clients with useful tips, tricks and resources to make their jobs easier.

Fifteen Day Privacy Challenge | Information Managers

Fifteen Day Privacy Challenge

on-line training, privacy and security training, privacy by design, privacy challenge, privacy education
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