HIPAA resources

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA is a US federal law that regulates individual and group health insurance policies and establishes standards for electronic health care transactions.

Title II of HIPAA contains the Administrative Simplication (AS) rule which requires the rules that will increase the efficiency of the US health care system thru implementation of standards for the use and dissemination of health care information. Title II bears the most relevance for the medical transcription industry and its practitioners.

To begin with, go to Wikipedia's entry on HIPAA. This will give you an overview on what the law covers. Download a PDF file for a more or less in-depth discussion of the Privacy Rule here.

For an overview of the Security Rule you can go to HIPAAdvisory.com.

The following listed sites covers the basics of HIPAA as it pertains to the medical transcription industry:

• MT World Understanding HIPAA
• HIPAA-Compliant HIPAA Compliance Medical Transcription
• MedicalTranscription.com HIPAA Compliance for Medical Transcription Services

Under HIPAA, Medical Transcription Service Organizations or MTSOs, in general, are considered as "Business Associates". A rundown of what a business associate is and the rules and policies regulating business associates are can found at Bricker and Eckler. Their Q&A page has a dropdown list of topics. Just choose "Business Associates" and click "Submit".

Another resource is from West Virginia University. Download the PDF file and read pages one to five. The rest of the document deals with research which are irrelevant.

Last but not the least, download AAMT's document on Safeguarding Protected Health Information which focuses on offsite medical transcriptionists.

I'm hoping that the links and documents provided will help increase your understanding about HIPAA. For those concerned, examination is scheduled on August 29, 2007, Wednesday, 1:00 to 5:00 PM.

Endocrinology podcasts

Go to PeerView Press' endocrinology podcast page to download their podcasts. Clicking on the link below will start the download. Go to the endocrinology page to get the transcripts.

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Pathophysiology and Clinical Impact 8:01 minutes (7.5 MB)
Managing Type 2 Diabetes: Current Goals and Treatment Options 10:09 minutes (9.5 MB)
Type 2 Diabetes Correlates Strongly With Cardiovascular Diseases 8:46 minutes (8.3 MB)
New Advances in Diabetes Monitoring and Treatment 10:04 minutes (9.5 MB)

Medical University of Southern Carolina Health Podcast features both audio and video podcasts. At the bottom of the page for audio and video podcasts you can find RSS links that you can right-click, copy, and paste into your podcast client or iTunes. Here are a few samples:

What is Diabetes?
Children with Diabetes
Diet and Exercise used to Control Diabetes

Aside from topics on diabetes, the page also covers hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism and others. On the right-hand side of the page you can see links to subjects like aging, autism, orthopedics, dermatology, ENT, and more.

You can also subscribe to the MUSC's monthly e-Newsletters podcasts.

PeerView Press podcasts

PeerView Press gathers and reviews topics on the latest advances and developments in science and medicine. PeerView publications offers a broad range of topics such as AIDS/HIV to cardiology to psychiatry. They offer these in the podcast format. PeerView Press makes it real easy to download the files. When you go to the homepage, you will see on the left-hand side of the page the links to the various topics. If you want to download a podcast or its transcript simply click on the "Download MP3" or "Download transcript" button. Your browser will automatically download the files. 

If you would like to receive the latest updates on each of the specialties, go to the "Podcast" link located still at the left-hand side of the page. Listed on that page are the different specialties and their feeds. There are two ways to subscribe to the feeds. Youcan use the link the will automatically add the feed to iTunes. For this you need to have iTunes installed in your computer. You can get iTunes as a free download from Apple's website. The other way is to right-click on the "Link to XML feed," save the link and then add it to your podcast aggregator or client. If you are not so familiar with using RSS or XML, I would suggest that you use the iTunes option. It's much easier to use. 

Post your questions or suggestions in the comments section.

Dermatology and Orthopedics podcasts

The Dermatology Weekly Podcast is a podcast the presents the latest research and news in dermatology weekly. The podcasts are of managable file size,  2 to 8 MB, and each podcast lasts between five to eight minutes. You can download the podcasts directly from their website or you can subscribe through their RSS feed. You can use Apple's iTunes or Juice as your podcast client. Both are free to download and are available for the Mac and Windows platform.

I've also scouted for podcasts in Orthopedics and came upon the University of Washington Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine podcast and the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Orthopedic Tests and Procedures podcast.

The UW Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine podcast is actually a video podcast which means that not only can you listen to the host and guests of the show, you can see them, too. The problem with a video podcast is that it's a much bigger file size so downloading them will take quite some time unless you have fast internet connection. The video podcast episodes have topics that covers the different areas of the body, like the shoulder, spine, knees and feet, and it also covers the diseases affecting these parts as well as the latest in treatment or surgery. The podcasts also have an RSS feed you can subscribe to. There are at least 25 video podcasts available to download for free.

I only have the feed for the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Orthopedic Tests and Procedures podcast. What the podcasts deals with are the common tests procedures done in orthopedics. Topics range from muscle biopsy to MRI to arthroscopy. The last update was on April 16, 2007.

That's about it for now coming from a long absence. I'm going to try to do periodic updates.

A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine by UC San Diego

The University of California, San Diego has put a page called "A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine." The guide will allow the medical transcription student to have an idea on the different examinations or maneuvers conducted during a PE. Each system is discussed here; from the eye exam to the neurological exam. Included in the discussion are topics on the History of Present Illness (HPI) and Vital Signs, as well as a list of commonly used abbreviation in medicine. If the student is interested in getting more resources off the net the website also has a page the lists different medical topics like that on anatomy, cardiology, dermatology, general physical exam, and more.

Urinary system links

Online resources about the urinary system.

"How Kidneys Work" from Kidney Health Australia.

DaVita Videos. DaVita provides dialysis services to those with chronic renal disease.

Atlas of Diseases of the Kidneys

I will be adding more links on a future date.

Clinical Cases and Images

Clinical Cases and Images is a blog that it presents different clinical cases in each system like the pulmonary system, the GI system, CV, and others. The case is concise but contains information like PMH, Medications, Allergies, PE, Vital signs, etc. Each case also includes figures and images.

Podcast links galore!

Podcasts links

I've introduced the concept of podcasts to some of you today. To recap, a podcast is an audio or video file that you can subscribe to and download thru the internet. All except for a very few podcasts are free. You can use your computer, a digital music player or your cellphone to listen to podcasts. Preferably, you should have a broadband connection to get these files but dial-up will suffice except that downloading a file will take a bit longer.

The list below are the different podcasts aggregated by some websites. Click on the name of the site to go to the webpage. I will be adding more podcasts later.

McGraw-Hill's AccessMedicine Weekly

ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Health Report Listen to this Australian podcast to get used to different accents during transcription.

MedicineNet

Journal of the American Medical Association

John Hopkins Medicine's Pod Med

Medkast

New England Journal of Medicine

American College of Cardiology (RSS)

American Heart Association (RSS)

Cardiovascular Multimedia Information Network

STAT! Neurology podcast

CME Podcasting has an extensive list of podcasts but requires you to register.

A list of more podcasts can be seen on the New Media Medicine Blog.