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Compliance (HIPAA)
The
Sav-Mor Store 'HIPAA Handbook'
The HIPAA standards are the
greatest regulatory challenge facing retail
community pharmacies. Sav-Mor Franchising, Inc. has a custom 'handbook'
to assist all Sav-Mor Drug store franchisees in complying with the
HIPAA
Privacy and Security rules.
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Privacy: Rules establishing how and when pharmacies
and other
covered entities may use and disclose a patient's protected
health
information.
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Security: Rules requiring administrative, physical and
technical safeguards to prevent illicit access to patient information
while it is stored or transmitted electronically.
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Transactions
and Code Sets: Rules creating
standards for the electronic transmission of data in payment
claims and other electronic
transactions.
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Identifiers: Rules establishing uniform numbers
for patients, providers, health plans and employers to help all
of those entities
identify and communicate with each other.
The difference between
the privacy rules and the security standards can
be confusing. Some find it helpful to analogize to a safe where
patient
information is stored. The security standards concerns
how thick the
walls of the safe must be, and how strong the lock must
be. The privacy
rules, to continue the analogy, concern who is allowed
to open the safe,
and how they are allowed to use the information inside.
Our HIPAA Handbook contains store specific polices, procedures
and forms that Sav-Mor Drug stores use to develop their
compliance
programs. From time to time Sav-Mor will supply our franchise
stores
with updated information to be added to this handbook.
It will be
clearly marked for replacement or insertion into the handbook.
The Sav-Mor Complete 'HIPAA Training Program'.
This program includes four privacy-training courses designed
for specific job types.
Each
course includes expert HIPAA content regarding the requirements
of the
rule along with the Sav-Mor placeholders for our organizational
Policy &
Procedures.
The Sav-Mor HIPAA program is designed to cover a broad range
of pharmacy
employees. Any worker with access to PHI (Personal Health Information)
must be trained. Whether your pharmacy chooses to focus specifically
on
these workers or err on the side of caution by training most
of the rest
of your workforce as well, the Sav-Mor program includes just
the right
level of training to inform any employee from a front-end cashier
to a
pharmacy manager and everyone in between.
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