VMH Bracing, LLC
Serving your Orthotic Bracing & Support needs in the Tampa Bay Area and beyond.
VMH Bracing, LLC
Serving your Orthotic Bracing & Support needs in the Tampa Bay Area and beyond.
Victor Hayes, M.D., CFO
Jason Kupperman, CFO, Compliance Officer
John Hoppes, Clinical Director, Licensed Orthotist, ABC Certified
Bianca Green, CPC, Orthotic Fitter Assistant, Office Administrator
Our Office —
5421 Beaumont Center Bvld. Suite 630
Tampa, FL 33634
Phone (Local) 813.515.5066
Phone (Toll Free) 844.402.8489
Fax: 813.354.4756
Email: info@vmhbracing.com
Office Hours:
Monday: 9a-5p
Tuesday: 9a-5p
Wednesday: 9a-5p
Thursday: 9a-5p
Friday: 9a-5p
Saturday & Sunday: CLOSED
What is the Compliance and Ethics Program?
The mission of the Compliance & Ethics Program at VMH Bracing is to assist the facility with its commitment to conducting its business in full compliance with applicable federal and state statutes, regulations, the Code of Conduct and corporate policy. The program assists in supporting and maintaining a culture of compliance, integrity and business ethics within the organization. Further, the program aids in the prevention, detection and resolution of deviations from expected behavior, whether intentional or not. The program provides education and is a resource to consult on compliance matters.
The Compliance and Ethics Program provides many benefits to VMH Bracing, including:
Assurance to all employees that the facility is addressing any potential liabilities related to errors or improper conduct
A structure to educate team members on compliance and disseminate legal and policy changes quickly
Ongoing auditing, monitoring and communication processes to reduce the likelihood of violations and errors
Helping to ensure that protected health information is kept secure
Safeguarding all corporate information and assets
About HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was initially created to protect health insurance coverage for employees who changed or lost their jobs (portability). The Administrative Simplification portion was created in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of health care and for the protection of health information (accountability). The "portability" portion of HIPAA has been in effect since 1996, but we are just now beginning to see the "accountability" portion come into play.
HIPAA is the most comprehensive healthcare privacy legislation ever passed in the United States. All healthcare providers (hospitals, physicians, pharmacies, dentists, etc.), health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses (3rd party vendors for billing, claims, etc.) must comply. HIPAA covers information in electronic, written, and oral forms. In order to accomplish the goals set forth by HIPAA, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) created three sets of standards:
Electronic Transactions and Code Sets
Privacy
Security
In the past, health providers and plans have used many different electronic formats to transact medical claims and related business. Implementing a national standard is intended to result in the use of one format, thereby "simplifying" and improving the efficiency of transactions nationwide. Specifically targeted are eight administrative and financial transactions:
claims encounter and coordination of benefits (837),
remittance advice (835),
eligibility inquiry and response (270/271),
status inquiry and response (276/277),
authorization request and response (278),
enrollment and disenrollment (834), and
premium payments (820).
Healthcare providers must use these standards if they submit transactions electronically to a health plan. However, Medicare requires electronic transactions, and all Medicare providers must adopt the standards for these transactions.
The rule also defines a series of code sets to support these transactions. These include ICD-10-CM for diagnoses and inpatient services, HCFA Common Procedural Coding System (HCPCS) for health care procedures, equipment, and supplies, and National Drug Code (NDC) for drugs. Fortunately, the code sets proposed as HIPAA standards are already used by most providers and health plans.
In the past, healthcare organizations used multiple identification formats when conducting business with each other - a confusing, error-prone, and costly approach. It is expected that standard identifiers will reduce these problems.
The Unique Healthcare Provider Identifier Standard was published January 23,2004. This final rule establishes a standard national provider identifier (NPI)for all healthcare providers under HIPAA.
HIPAA's Privacy Standards for the first time create national standards to protect individual's medical records and other personal health information. Patients will have more control over their health information. The rule sets boundaries on the use and release of health records, establishes appropriate safeguards that health care providers must achieve to protect the privacy of health information, holds violators accountable, with civil and criminal penalties, and enables patients to find out how their information may be used and what disclosures of their information have been made. It also gives patients the right to examine and obtain a copy of their own health records and request corrections.
HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is the most comprehensive healthcare privacy legislation ever passed in the United States. All health care providers (hospitals, physicians, pharmacies, dentists, etc.), health plans and health care clearinghouses (3rd party vendors for billing, claims, etc.), must comply. HIPAA protects medical records and other individually identifiable health information whether it is on paper, in computers or communicated orally. VMH Bracing must comply with HIPAA.
PHI stands for protected health information. It is data, including demographic information, collected from an individual and created or received by VMH Bracing that: (1) relates to the past, present or future physical or mental condition of an individual, the provision of healthcare to an individual, or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of healthcare to an individual. Secondly, it can be used as an identifier to identify an individual.
Here are some of the requirements:
Provide information to patients about his or her privacy rights as well, as how information can be used.
Obtain authorization from patients for certain uses and disclosures of PHI.
Adopt clear privacy procedures.
Train employees so that they understand the privacy procedures.
Designate an individual to be responsible for seeing that the privacy procedures are adopted and followed.
Secure patient records containing PHI so that they are not readily available to those who do not need them.
Yes. The Privacy Rule allows doctors, nurses, hospitals, lab technicians and healthcare facilities to use or disclose PHI for treatment purposes without the patient's authorization. Other uses and disclosures may require an authorization in compliance with state law.
The Notice of Privacy Practices is a document provided to all patients. The notice describes how patient healthcare information may be used and disclosed and how the patient or the patient's legal representative may obtain access to their health information.