If you’re new to the healthcare industry and HIPAA compliance, or just need a reminder, all the acronyms can be a bit intimidating… here’s a cheat sheet of a few important acronyms and what they refer to.

ACRONYMS:

AHIMA – American Health Information Management Association
AHRQ – Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
CFR – Code of Federal Regulations (A compilation of the general and permanent rules of the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government as published in the Federal Register. The code is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation.)
CHP – Certification in Healthcare Privacy
CHPS – Certification in Healthcare Privacy and Security
CMP –Civil Money Penalty
EHR – Electronic Health Record
EMR – Electronic Medical Records Systems
HHS – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
OCR – Office for Civil Rights (within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
PSO – patient safety organizations
PSQIA — Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Rule (PSQIA establishes a voluntary reporting system to enhance the data available to assess and resolve patient safety and health care quality issues. To encourage the reporting and analysis of medical errors, PSQIA provides Federal privilege and confidentiality protections for patient safety information called patient safety work product. Patient safety work product includes information collected and created during the reporting and analysis of patient safety events.)
PSWP – patient safety work product

Don’t see what you’re looking for in the short list above? Check out this list for more healthcare acronyms.

In Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) news: Aug. 1, University of California, San Francisco health economics professor Robert Miller estimates the cost of implementing a nationwide EHR at $150 billion. Hospitals, Miller says, will need to invest $35 billion of that to purchase and expand systems and $55 billion to maintain and operate them over eight years. Hospital IT spending is currently not in line with other industries, Millers says, and the increase for EHRs would put it closer.

Miller’s figures differ from earlier Rand Corporation and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates, which themselves differ. Proponents assert that health IT systems, including EHRs, could shed light on best practices, effectiveness of treatments, disease trends, and save money over the long hail. However, in its June report, the CBO said, “By itself, the adoption of more health IT is generally not sufficient to produce cost savings,” adding that the future economic benefits of health IT systems are uncertain. Additionally, questions remain about maintaining HIPAA compliance.

Drawing numbers from a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine, Miller said that fewer than 5 percent of US doctors are currently using EHRs. Equipping the other 96 percent would require $15 billion in initial cost, and another $24 billion increase to physicians’ operating costs.

Read more: http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350496-1.html