Are Our Hospitals Prepared for Disaster?

It isn't something that many like to bring up, but with the tenth anniversary of 9/11 this weekend, some critics worry that our health facilities haven’t done enough to secure themselves through those ten years. The threat that these critics bring up is an act of bio-terrorism. If there were an outbreak of anthrax, or any other highly contagious disease, as a result of a terrorist attack, would our hospitals be prepared to handle it?

A report issued Sept. 1 by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that significant public health improvements were made following the 2001 events.

Such improvements include developing clear emergency response plans, bolstering laboratory staffing and bio-testing capabilities, and implementing more effective disease surveillance systems in state health departments.

But during the past 10 years, the report says these efforts have been losing effectiveness, due largely to public health budget cuts. The cuts are leaving many departments across the country with too few staff members to adequately implement the measures.

This American Medical News article stresses that public health employees would be the first to recognize the signs of a large-scale bioterrorist attack, and recent budget cuts have drastically reduced their numbers. Further, critics point out that our health defenses have become too complacent, and that we will not be capable of defending a terrorist attack until after the attack has occurred.

A similar NJ.com column does mention that, after 9/11, many emergency procedures were put in place, with the intention of preparing hospitals for any disaster. However, low staffing and funding mean that very few hospitals would actually be able to follow through with their plans, should anything occur.

For the sake of future safety, it is clear that something needs to change, but many experts are left questioning what that change could actually be.

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Pam Argeris is a thought leader in the Healthcare Industry and possesses extensive, hands-on experience with CMS compliance, and multiple regulatory bodies such as NCQA, JACHO, and DOI. In her role at Merrill Corp., Pam focuses on developing solutions for compliance and quality assurance, delivered in a cost effective manner to improve beneficiary and prospect communications. You can contact Pam at Pamela.Argeris@merrillcorp.com.

Irene Leaves A Paper Trail

During natural disasters, the preservation of human life takes precedence over anything else. When it comes to health facilities, that can often mean the relocation or evacuation of patients and staff. In the case of the recent Hurricane Irene, it also meant that many facilities were suddenly faced with the massive logistical and compliance problems of moving hundreds of patients out of hospitals and nursing homes.

Now that the threat has passed, many hospitals are left with a paperwork nightmare that could take days to sort through.

Many questions have arisen. What is the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement policy with respect to the transfer of patients between institutions? If a federal disaster area is declared, do the feds pick up the tab? How will private insurers pay for the costs incurred?

Crain’s New York Business asked CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association, Richard Herrick, for his opinion. “The question is, who pays for what? Who bills for the services and costs incurred?” It is certainly a perplexing problem.

For many of the states affected, nothing on this scale has ever occurred, and contingency plans to handle the crisis were not in place. It is unreasonable to expect every facility to prepare for every possible disaster, but until federal agencies are willing to provide answers, many health facilities will be left to work things out on their own.

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Pam Argeris is a thought leader in the Healthcare Industry and possesses extensive, hands-on experience with CMS compliance, and multiple regulatory bodies such as NCQA, JACHO, and DOI. In her role at Merrill Corp., Pam focuses on developing solutions for compliance and quality assurance, delivered in a cost effective manner to improve beneficiary and prospect communications. You can contact Pam at Pamela.Argeris@merrillcorp.com.

Large Data Breach Causes Data Integrity Questions

A California firm, Southern California Medical-Legal Consultants, has been the most recent facility to make headlines with a massive data breach. The breach, which released the medical records, social security information, and personal details of 300,000 patients, was caused by poor handling and a lack of knowledge. Joel Hecht, owner of the consulting firm, believed he was storing the data on a private website. In reality, it was being placed into a public server, without even the most basic of security measures.

The personal data was discovered by Aaron Titus, a researcher with Identity Finder who then alerted Hecht's firm and The Associated Press. He found it through Internet searches, a common tactic for finding private information posted on unsecured sites.

The data was "available to anyone in the world with half a brain and access to Google," Titus says.

Titus says Hecht's company failed to use two basic techniques that could have protected the data -- requiring a password and instructing search engines not to index the pages. He called the breach "likely a case of felony stupidity."

The breach, which was discovered and locked down last week, has led many to question the upcoming 2014 regulation requiring all medical data to be stored online. While it is obvious that this breach was caused more by ignorance than by hidden insecurities, the argument has been made that other under-trained facilities are likely to follow suit. The Associated Press theorizes that the underlying cause of this breach is the fact that the medical records were so far removed from their original source. While hospitals are usually well-equipped for this kind of data, the AP says, “The further away from the health care provider the records get, the flimsier the enforcement mechanisms for ensuring the data are protected.”

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Pam Argeris is a thought leader in the Healthcare Industry and possesses extensive, hands-on experience with CMS compliance, and multiple regulatory bodies such as NCQA, JACHO, and DOI. In her role at Merrill Corp., Pam focuses on developing solutions for compliance and quality assurance, delivered in a cost effective manner to improve beneficiary and prospect communications. You can contact Pam at Pamela.Argeris@merrillcorp.com.