Most of us know that HIPAA has a section specifically for privacy and security. But is it really enough to keep our PHI out of nefarious hands? What if the device containing PHI is encrypted but the medical worker was forced to give up his/her password during the commission of a crime. HIPAA worked but PHI was still stolen. What kinds of safeguards can be legislated?
It will be interesting to see what the industry comes up with regarding this and then what CMS legislates accordingly.
A few months ago, Cognizant announced their intent to purchase TriZetto. The acquisiton has now officially been completed. Here is the press statement they released late last week:
We’re pleased to let you know that TriZetto is now a part of Cognizant, and we are very excited to put our combined strengths to work for you.
We understand that healthcare organizations face many market challenges. Whether it’s the rise of consumerism, serving an aging population, shifting responsibilities between payers and providers, technology advancement or the expansion of government programs, these trends are also opportunities to reduce costs, improve the quality of care and embrace next-generation business models.
By joining forces, we at Cognizant and TriZetto are creating the industry’s first truly integrated, comprehensive, end-to-end healthcare solution portfolio. With us as your single strategic partner, you now have one source for all of the experience, expertise and solutions needed to successfully address the myriad forces reshaping the healthcare industry.
We’re dedicated to your success, and are committed to working with you to make your operations as efficient as possible, while optimizing the investments to drive future growth. We provide healthcare-focused, “as-a-service” solutions that leverage the latest technologies, enhanced through unique, data-driven insights. The combination of TriZetto’s world-class technology products with Cognizant’s consulting, IT and business process services will help you dramatically simplify the deployment and adoption of technology—helping you to reengineer the business of healthcare today, while reimagining it for tomorrow.
As part of Cognizant, TriZetto will operate as a business unit within Cognizant’s healthcare practice. Jude Dieterman will be TriZetto’s chief executive, reporting to and working closely with Krish Venkat, Cognizant’s president of healthcare and life sciences. Along with our entire team, we are steadfast in our commitment to you as a client, and we are now aligning our client-facing teams to ensure unified, consistent service and support, while also ensuring that your organization has access to our combined resources and solutions.
We will continue to expand TriZetto’s portfolio and technology architecture and have a clear roadmap for innovating and accelerating many of our initiatives by leveraging the combined technology strengths and infrastructures of Cognizant and TriZetto.
CMS has announced the formation of the new Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics (OEDA). This office seems to fit in w/the growing CMS charge of making healthcare data more transparent for a myriad of initiatives both public and private. The Federal government is, after all, the largest purchaser of healthcare services in the United States. The amount of data collected just by the government alone is quite a treasure of gold.
Read more here.
Although Property and Casualty Insurers are not HIPAA covered entities and therefore not required to implement ICD-10, many have indicated they will do so with the new deadline of 10/1/15. Will they be ready for this new compliance date? WEDI is offering for free to their members a webinar to discuss this:
Campaign Payers, vendors, and providers that bill Property and Casualty (P&C) across states are required to comply with each state’s requirements. Join us for an update on the WEDI Property and Casualty ICD-10 State Readiness campaign and learn more about:
• Potential impact of state ICD-10 readiness on stakeholder testing and contingency plans • Update on WEDI P&C ICD-10 State Readiness Governor Outreach Campaign from Devin Jopp, President & CEO, WEDI • Which states have declared ICD-10 adoption • How to stay informed on the latest updates on State ICD-10 readiness • How to identify which payers are ready NOW for ICD-10 testing • Latest WEDI ICD-10 Resource Tools • How to stay engaged in the process to help your organization with their ICD-10 testing and implementation plan
Monday, November 24, 2014
3:00 – 4:00PM ET
Register here. Note: Axiom is a corporate WEDI member. If you do not currently have a WEDI login (is required to sign-up for the webinar), please contact Peggy Honts and she can create a user ID and password for you.
Politics and healthcare have been entwined in the United States since the inception of Medicare w/President Johnson back in the 1960s. As we are aware, it is still a battleground issue for many in our government. Here is a Q&A of what the latest court battles over different parts of the ACA are still looming and what they could potentially mean.
