HIPAA Help for Rural Hospitals Announced at SCORCH

Federal Privacy Law Serves as Impetus for Unique Collaboration Irving, TX (March 27, 2002)---A group of hospitals in the Texas Panhandle has joined forces with a national healthcare consulting firm to create an extensive set of tools and services for smaller hospitals facing the daunting task of HIPAA compliance. It was announced today at the Southwest Conference of Rural & Community Hospitals (SCORCH) in Dallas, TX. The Patient Privacy Rules component of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), approved in April 2001 by President Bush, will profoundly impact hospital operations.

Strategic Healthcare Initiatives (SHI), based in Irving, Texas, has been on the forefront of assisting physicians with their efforts to comply with HIPAA. The company invested over two years in the development of one of the country’s first comprehensive compliance tools for physicians called REGIMEN™. The product was formally released in July 2001 and has received extremely positive support from healthcare administrators, prominent healthcare law firms, practice management specialists and physicians.

SHI has now applied that expertise to the creation of a comprehensive, fully editable hospital operations manual on CD-ROM that is HIPAA compliant and geared to hospitals with fewer than 150 beds. The product is enhanced by the “real world” input of the company’s developmental partner – The Coalition of Health Services, Inc. (806.337.1700 extension 203) in Amarillo, Texas.
REGIMEN…for Hospitals has the following elements:

• A customized hospital operations manual template provided on CD-ROM which includes standard policies, procedures and forms necessary for compliance with HIPAA.
• A series of educational training programs designed to assist hospitals in meeting the training requirements included in HIPAA.
• A one-year subscription to the REGIMEN Update Service that allows administrators to stay abreast of changes in the HIPAA regulations.
• On-going support by phone, fax or e-mail from friendly, knowledgeable people.
• Three levels of customization are built into the product. The first, accomplished prior to shipping, involves entering organizational specific information (facility name, address, telephone, CEO, Privacy Officer, etc) and appropriately populating the documents with this information. The second provides alternatives from which the end-user may choose one or more options to accommodate local circumstances. Finally, every document is fully editable by the end-user. The product also includes an educational and training component, a “gap” analysis tool and other supportive materials.

The hospitals that are a part of this unique partnership include:

Castro County Hospital District – Dimmitt, Texas
Childress Regional Medical Center – Childress, Texas
Collingsworth General Hospital – Wellington, Texas
Coon Memorial Hospital – Dalhart, Texas
Golden Plains Community Hospital – Borger, Texas
Hemphill County Hospital – Canadian, Texas
Hereford Regional Medical Center – Hereford, Texas
Ochiltree General Hospital – Perryton, Texas
Parkview Hospital – Wheeler, Texas

Ochiltree General Hospital administrator and Coalition chairman, Wallace Boyd, noted, “Thanks to the collaborative development process, this is an incredible product: built especially for rural and community hospitals of less than 150 beds, continuously updated to maintain currency, priced for tight budgets, and supported by people who truly care. REGIMEN…for Hospitals is a “must have” for every rural hospital in the country.”

REGIMEN…for Hospitals will be released soon and exhibited March 27-29 at the Annual Southwest Conference of Rural & Community Hospitals hosted in Dallas by the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals (TORCH). For more information about the conference, go to www.torchnet.org.
For more information on REGIMEN, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (1996) or Strategic Healthcare Initiatives, visit us at www.hipaantidote.com.