By Trace Devanny, CEO of TractManager Inc.

HIMSS always seems to be a harbinger of change in the health care industry, and this year proves no different.

The health care industry overall faces massive potential change with the repeal, replacement, or revision of the ACA. Change, especially at this level, is always unsettling, but I think we can do best for our organizations, and eventually for our patients, by concentrating on what we can do and setting aside thoughts of things we simply can’t control, such as legislation.



No matter where we are in the health information industry, there are a few trends that are clear and must be dealt with if we are to succeed. Some things, like the continued rate of mergers and acquisitions of hospitals, and bundled payments for services rather than fee for procedures, are clearly going to be a big part of health care in the future.

Compliance
The CIO of every hospital should have a close working relationship with its chief compliance officer and general counsel, since every contract, every agreement, virtually every email flows through some component of the hospital’s IT system. Of particular risk to an organization is any contract associated with patient care or the referring of patients (including any hospital/physician agreements) for those services, these agreements all need to be managed with expertise and technology.

Bret Bissey, senior vice president of compliance services at our MediTract Division, tells me that million-dollar settlements resulting from some element of fraud or abuse are reported almost weekly. Many of these are focused on inaccurate hospital or physician contracting practices, which have led to accusations of Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) or Stark Law violations.

Given the need to preserve the Medicare Trust Fund, any changes in the ACA won’t alter the Justice Department’s or OIG’s determination to spot the violators and fine them heavily. You can help save your organization the risk of costly investigations and these millions dollar settlements by working closely with your compliance office to avoid this risk.

Cyber security
Hand in glove with government compliance is the issue of cybersecurity.

This can be as ominous as hackers diving into cloud-based storage of data, or as simple as lost or stolen electronic devices.

HHS reported 106 hacking incidents last year, 20 times more than just six years ago.

On a much simpler level, employees’ electronic devices present an easy avenue for highly confidential information. One Texas hospital was recently fined more than $3 million in HIPAA violations after unencrypted devices were lost at D/FW airport or stolen from employee offices or homes.

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