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A Survey of Dentists [Pilot Study]
By Darrell Pruitt; DDS
A survey of 18 dentists was performed using the Internet as a platform. The dentists were presented with ten HIPAA compliancy requirements followed by a series of questions concerning their compliancy as well as the importance of the requirements in dental practices.
Frustration with the tenets of the mandate, as well as open defiance is evident by the written responses. In addition, it appears that a dentist’s likelihood of satisfying a requirement is related to the dentist’s perceived importance of the requirement.
Even though this is a limited pilot study, there is convincing evidence that more thorough investigation concerning the cost and benefits of the requirements need to be performed before enforcement of the HIPAA mandate is considered for the nation’s dental practices.
Excerpt:
“Dr. Gerald Daniel seems to have captured many of the dentists’ feelings about the HIPAA Rule when he lamented, “We try to comply, however many times I feel every government agency in the country wants to run my practice without regard to the problems, expense or aggravation it causes the health provider.”
READ IT HERE: hipaa-survey-dentists4
GRAPHS: hipaa-survey-graphs1
Conclusion
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Filed under: Career Development, Health Law & Policy, Information Technology, Op-Editorials, Practice Management, Surveys and Voting | Tagged: DDS, dentists, DMD |
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Follow-Up Considerations
Darrell Pruitt; DDS
Author and Lead Researcher
Now, allow me to suggest a possible future topic: “is encryption enough?” Readers may not have noticed that under item number five,” password security,” we slipped in a couple of questions about encryption.
Question 4:
Do you think a password is an effective safeguard if a computer is stolen?
Yes: 41% (7 of 17)
No: 59% (10)
Question 5: Do you think encryption is an effective safeguard if a computer is stolen?
Yes: 71% (12 of 17)
No: 29% (5)
I left off question number six and seven only after hard consideration.
Question 6: If a healthcare provider were to lose encrypted personal information of yours or your family, would you expect to be warned of the breach, even though to do so is not required by law?
Question 7: If as a provider, you were to lose encrypted data, would you warn your patients about the breach, even though to do so is not required by law?
I even thought it would be interesting to switch the order of 6 and 7 for half of the group to see if it made any difference in responses. In the end, though, the sample size was just too small for significance and the pursuit of encryption would be a distraction.
Nevertheless, your thoughts are appreciated.
Darrell
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Darrell, Readers and ME-P Subscribers,
This is also an issue with the bills pending in Congress.
If you review the breaches that have been the subject of media reporting, you will see that in nearly all cases individuals are notified even if the information is encrypted. At the very least, notice should be given to the Secretary of HHS of “substantial” breaches even if the information is encrypted. HHS and consumers should know which organizations are doing an adequate job of preventing privacy breaches.
I would think that organizations that had breaches would want their customers to know that the information was encrypted.
Feel free to share this with your friends.
Jim Pyles
James C. Pyles, Principal
POWERS PYLES SUTTER & VERVILLE PC
1501 M Street NW, Seventh Floor | Washington, DC 20005-1700
tel 202.466.6550 | fax 202.785.1756
jim.pyles@ppsv.com | http://www.ppsv.com
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Rumors and Gossip,
The hearsay is that when the abstract of this study appeared on Health and Human Services [HHS] Secretary Michael Leavitt’s blog, it caused the April firings of executive director of the ADA, Dr. James Bramson and Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Mary Logan.
(But remember, you didn’t hear this rumor from us). The ADA is currently interviewing for replacements.
-Anonymous
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2007 HIPAA survey of dentists
Are HIPAA-covered dentists any more compliant with the Rule today than five years ago?
In 2008, the results of an informal 2007 survey measuring HIPAA compliance among dentists was published in the Medical Executive Post.
Click to access hipaa-survey-dentists4.pdf
“HIPAA Rules and Dentistry – A Survey of Dentists”
By Darrell Pruitt DDS
ABSTRACT:
A survey of 18 dentists was performed using the Internet as a platform. The volunteer dentists’ anonymity was guaranteed. The dentists were presented with ten HIPAA compliancy requirements followed by a series of questions concerning their compliancy as well as the importance of the requirements in dental practices.
The range of compliancy was found to be from 0% for the requirement of a written workstation policy to 88% for that of password security. The average was 49%, meaning that less than half of the requirements are being respected by the dentists in this sample.
Frustration with the tenets of the mandate, as well as open defiance is evident by the written responses. In addition, it appears that a dentist’s likelihood of satisfying a requirement is related to the dentist’s perceived importance of the requirement.
Even though this is a limited pilot study, there is convincing evidence that more thorough investigation concerning the cost and benefits of the requirements need to be performed before enforcement of the HIPAA mandate is considered for the nation’s dental practices.
————————————
As far as I know, almost 5 years later this remains the only published study of HIPAA compliance in dentistry. It goes without saying that the profession’s continued evasion of the topic can only increase the harm that data breaches cause dentists as well as their patients. What’s more, it is simply counter to the tenets of the Hippocratic Oath to hide avoidable danger from patients.
Americans have a clear obligation to demand more transparency in dentalcare.
D. Kellus Pruitt DDS
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