Presents practical recommendations for reaching and maintaining HIPAA compliance Contains contributed articles from HIPAA experts-consultants, employees of covered entities, and members of the standards bodies-who have worked first-hand with the standards and requirements Covers HIPAA program fundamentals including Due Diligence, workforce education, issues analysis, and internal control structures and requirements Addresses the standards of performance, execution, and due care that must be met to establish compliance Management and IT professionals in the healthcare arena face the fear of the unknown: they fear that their massive efforts to comply with HIPAA requirements may not be enough, because they still do not know how compliance will be tested and measured. No one has been able to clearly explain to them the ramifications of HIPAA. Until now. The HIPAA Program Reference Handbook explains all aspects of HIPAA including system design, implementation, compliance, liability, transactions, security, and privacy, focusing on pragmatic action instead of theoretic approaches. The book is organized into five parts. The first discusses programs and processes, covering program design and implementation, a review of legislation, human dynamics, the roles of Chief Privacy and Chief Security Officers, and many other foundational issues. The Handbook continues by analyzing product policy, technology, and process standards, and what entities need to do to reach compliance. It then focuses on HIPAA legal impacts, including liability associated with senior management and staff within an organization. A section on transactions and interactions discusses the intricacies of the transaction types, standards, methods, and implementations required by HIPAA, covering the flow of payments and patient information among healthcare and service providers, payers, agencies, and other organizations. The book concludes with a discussion of security and pri