Latest News Released by ONC: Recommended Requirements for Enhancing Data Quality in Electronic Health Record Systems. Click Here to View the latest News.

To coincide with the fourth anniversary of the enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today the launch of an enhanced Web site that will make it easier for consumers, health care providers and others to get information about how the Department enforces health information privacy rights and standards. In launching the website, Winston Wilkinson, the Director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, noted: "HHS has obtained significant change in the privacy practices of covered entities through its enforcement program. Corrective actions obtained by HHS from these entities have resulted in change that is systemic and affects all the individuals they serve."

Nobody wants to talk about it, but not talking about it isn't going to make it go away. It is more common and more costly than most people want to admit to. It is one of the major contributing factors to our rising health care costs. It is very hard to prove and it is even harder to identify when it does happen because the people doing it have gotten very good at it. If you're wondering what we're talking about, it's medical billing and fraud. We're going to take just a brief look at the problem, as this is a topic that you could write books about.