NORWELL, MA. (March 20, 2000) -
Beacon Partners, a national health care management consulting firm with offices in Boston and Chicago, recently completed a security and privacy assessment at Southcoast Health System. Southcoast is an integrated delivery network located in southeastern Massachusetts.
Beacon reviewed Southcoast's current state of security and identified potential gaps between their current security state and what security and privacy measures should be in place to protect patient and business information, and mitigate legal risk. Beacon then prepared a risk analysis, assigning risk and cost metrics to areas of deficiency. Recommendations and a project plan were developed for remediation, including specific steps needed to comply with the proposed HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) privacy and security regulations.
According to Richard Smith, Vice President of Information Systems for Southcoast, Beacon has developed comprehensive recommendations and a project timeline that will allow Southcoast Health System to protect their business and patient information, and become HIPAA security compliant. Getting a head start and completing the assessment phase gave us a detailed road map that we can use to focus resources on reducing our risks and complying with HIPAA security and privacy regulations.
Beacon's assessment included:
1. Current State of Security a thorough review of Southcoast's current policies and procedures and training materials.
2. Staff Analysis interviews of key personnel designed to provide Southcoast senior management with a true picture of its staff?s compliance to current policies and procedures.
3. Risk and Gap Analysis provides detail on Southcoast?s security vulnerabilities, including HIPAA security and privacy related issues. Cost factors associated with resolution of each of the gaps are assigned and gaps prioritized.
4. HIPAA Compliance EDI Inventory Assessment an evaluation of Southcoast's current EDI process and systems, including claims, electronic remittance advice and eligibility verification.
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Beacon Partners provides health care enterprises with organizational security planning, audits, risk assessments and implementations designed to protect corporate and patient data, assist with HIPAA regulations compliance and maintain data accessibility to accomplish business and clinical goals. Other services include health care EDI/e-Commerce, IS, and managed care systems, including architecting and managing implementation of technology-based monitoring systems for fraud and abuse management.
For the complete case study on Beacon's Southcoast engagement, visit www.HIPAAComply.com.
Contact:
Charles Anastos
Vice President, Business Development
Beacon Partners, Inc.
781-982-8400
cra@beaconpartners.com
Joyce Faria
Southcoast Health System
508-961-5270
fariaj@southcoast.org
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