FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Michael Sharp
Safety Send, Inc.
909 Fannin Suite 1111
Houston, Texas 77010
Phone: (713) 554-6100
Fax: (713) 554-6100
Email: contact@safetysend.com

HIPAA Enforcement Begins! HHS' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Now Enforcing Compliance with Federal Law. SafetySend announces Complaint Avoidance and Compliance tool!

Houston, Texas - December 22, 2003 - (HIPAA) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is specific policies & procedures on managing & transmitting Protected Health Information.

As of the October 16, 2003 deadline, over 2000 complaints have been filed and the numbers will go up. A covered entity that has not implemented the HIPAA transaction and code set standards and has not submitted an extension request is noncompliant, and could be subject to enforcement actions. HHS' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has the responsibility for enforcing the transactions and code set standards, as well as security and identifiers standards when those are published. CMS will also continue to enforce the insurance portability requirements under Title I of HIPAA. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in HHS will enforce the privacy standards.

As of the June 15, 2003, HHS' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) received 637 privacy complaints. The office began accepting complaints after the April privacy compliance deadline, and its figures reflect those complaints received through the middle of June, according to data presented to the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS). Of those complaints, OCR has accepted 260 for investigation. The office closed 124 without further investigation and hasn't yet decided whether to investigate the remaining 253 complaints. It has most often closed cases that refer to events that happened before the April 2003 privacy compliance deadline

Stephanie Kaminsky, JD, the OCR liaison to the NCVHS, says OCR accepts a complaint for investigation when it determines that, if substantiated, a complaint represents a HIPAA violation. It rejects cases that would not constitute a violation.

In addition, Kaminsky told the committee, it has received several HIPAA privacy complaints from employees reporting the organization where they work. "I don't know if it's full-fledged whistle blowing, but it's along those lines," she said. OCR is still developing criteria for when to refer a complaint to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. Complaints referred for prosecution were not disclosed.

SafetySend is HIPAA compliance for Medical and Legal Professionals. Unique double encryption technology requires no software purchase or installation.

For more information: Visit: www.safetysend.com or Contact: Michael Sharp at Safety Send, Inc. -909 Fannin, Suite 1111 - Houston, Texas 77010 – (713) 554-6100

SafetySend is the healthcare industry leader in confidential HIPAA communication services to covered entities HIPAA laws.

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