In the last few months, there have been a lot of questions about what people should be doing to be sure they are compliant with the changes in the HIPAA rules as a result of the HITECH Act.

Medical transcriptionists have been discussing this in various places across the internet and in their networking meetings. Some wonder if they can just ignore it all together because the “HIPAA police” really aren’t going to care about the little guys. Some think because their clients haven’t told them that anything has changed, they are protected. Others just feel it’s a lot of hype about nothing.

Some of you may have already visited the site I started about HIPAA and the HITECH Act. The second edition of my book about HIPAA is well underway and yet the publish date is late enough that I wanted to put information out now when it is really needed.

This week, the HIPAA4MT site is offering a free checklist of some of the things you should already have in place to be sure you are compliant. You can get a copy by visiting the site and signing up for the mailing list. If you haven’t already taken the necessary steps, I encourage you to do so. Random audits of both covered entities and business associates by the US Department of Health and Human Services are now required and they must report their results back to Congress annually.

Have a great weekend!