Most readers are now aware that recent changes to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) will significantly affect their relationships with health-related clients and that these changes also provide a glimpse of how they will work with all of their customers in the future. Additionally, the long overdue Red Flag Rule and soon-to-be-announced enforcement actions will further emphasize the role of their clients’ compliance documentation. Superimposed over all of this is the economy, which, while still in recession, is showing signs of recovery.
Against this backdrop, NAID is embarking on its most aggressive effort to date to help members capitalize on current trends and conditions. Starting in August, NAID will offer intense one-day Compliance Toolkit Workshops around the country that will provide hands-on training with the toolkit and a rich contextual background on the legislation and regulations for which it was developed. Soon NAID also will release the new Business Associate contract with modifications, now required by HIPAA. Web-based training on HIPAA and the use of the new contract also will be available. Additionally, over the next year, NAID management will speak almost weekly across the U.S. to business groups and associations on issues related to the new laws, the importance of policy development and vendor selection.
As far as NAID is concerned, it is only doing what industry associations are supposed to do—help its members grow their businesses.