Community Pharmacy Enhanced Dispensing Model to Improve Medication Access for Rural Patients Living with HIV

Objective: To demonstrate the utility of a community pharmacy-centric workflow for improving access to medications for high-risk, rural persons living with HIV (PLWH) in partnership with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Setting: University-sponsored independent community pharmacy and rural FQHC providing care to PLWH. Practice Description: Patient-centered Pharmacy Program is a service designed to improve access to HIV medications for PLWH in rural Idaho. The service is delivered in partnership with a 340B-covered entity (FQHC). Practice innovation: The workflow for the service in the community pharmacy is described in detail, including time assessments and descriptions of tools and forms developed for rollout. Evaluation: Quality improvement initiatives over three years are described. Results: This service ensures medication access for rural PLWH and is sustainable for the community pharmacy. Expansion of services is feasible for the future. Conclusion: This partnership may be one that could be implemented at other rural, independent community pharmacies seeking to have outreach to rural patients with chronic medication needs. Article Type: Clinical Experience

Massive Health Record Breaches Evidenced by the Office for Civil Rights Data

Background: Using data collected by the Office for Civil Rights, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), over half of the population in the USA might have been affected by security breaches since Oct 2009. This study provided analysis of the data, presenting the numbers of individuals affected in one breach and the number of breaches. Methods: Statistical analysis has been conducted with visualizations. Visualizations include categorized histograms and tables. Histograms are presented as bar charts with categories: location and breach type. Tables show case counts (across top 10 breaches and those with more than one million stolen records) in successive years and covered entity types. All statistics were calculated with the use of package R. Analyzed data were collected from Oct 2009 till Jun 2017. Results: This study presents evidence of health data breaches taking place at an unprecedented level. Medical records of at least 173 million of people, gathered since Oct 2009, have been breached and might have adversely influenced over half of the population in the USA. Conclusion: Results of this study are expected to motivate public care authorities to develop similar laws and regulations as the USA while striving for better law enforcement. It takes a considerable amount of time to educate public and it takes substantial financial resources to prevent data breaches.

HIPAA Breach Report for October 2017

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) privacy rule uses Protected Health Information (PHI) to define the type of patient information that’s protected by law.1 PHI is an important factor for HIPAA compliance. PHI isn’t confined to medical records and test results. Any information distributed by a business associate that can identify a patient and is used or disclosed to a covered entity during the course of care is considered PHI. Even if that information doesn’t reveal a patient’s medical history, it is still considered PHI.

El Balance Social como una herramienta válida para representar la Responsabilidad Social en las Empresas Chilenas / The Social Balance as a valid tool to represent the Social Responsibility in the Chilean Companies

El concepto de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (RSE) refleja hoy en día el resurgimiento de valores en la sociedad, además manifiesta la necesidad que tienen las empresas de involucrarse en la sociedad civil a través de sus iniciativas, no tan sólo como generadoras de proyectos aislados que las conecten con su entorno, sino integrándolas como parte de su estrategia empresarial. En este ensayo se presenta la herramienta Balance Social (BS), un tema que tiene sus orígenes en la RSE, modelo adoptado en Chile en el año 1975, desde la primera experiencia registrada en la Asociación Chilena de Seguridad (ACHS). La herramienta toma en cuenta los aspectos sociales que contempla una entidad hacia adentro, los denominados agentes internos, es decir los trabajadores en sus distintos niveles de la organización. Se darán a conocer modelos de Balance Social, por medio de análisis de su diseño e influencia a tomar en consideración y el tipo de empresa en que se aplique. El aporte de este ensayo, es dejar manifiesto que el Balance Social transformaría los tradicionales indicadores sociales que presentan algunas entidades en insumos reales, y a su vez serviría como una herramienta práctica para representar la RSE de una empresa. AbstractThe concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) today reflects the resurgence of values in society, also expressed the need for companies to engage in civil society through initiatives, not just as isolated projects that generate connection them to their environment but integrating them as part of their business strategy. In this test the Social Balance (BS) tool, an issue that has its origins in the CSR model adopted in Chile in 1975, since the first recorded experience in the Chilean Safety Association (ACHS) presented. The tool takes into account the social aspects covered entity inward-called insiders, i.e., workers at different levels of the organization. They will be released models of Social Balance, through design analysis and influence to consider and type of business in which it applied. The contribution of this paper is to leave clear that the Social Balance transforms traditional social indicators that have some real input entities, and in turn serve as a practical tool to represent a company CSR.

Security

Privacy and security of health information is a global concern. However, this chapter will focus on approaches to security in the United States. In particular, the federal regulation of security in the form of the Security Rule will be studied. The HIPAA Security Rule details the system and administrative requirements that a covered entity must meet in order to assure that health information is safe from people without authorization for its access. By contrast, the Privacy Rule describes the requirements that govern the circumstances under which protected health information must be used or disclosed with and without patient involvement and when a patient may have access to his or her protected health information. The implementation of reasonable and appropriate security measures supports compliance with the Privacy Rule.