In Consideration of HIPAA Laws and Social Networking Risks.

You've heard about them... chances are, statistically, you're a member of one or more and you might even be somewhat addicted to them... I'm referring, of course, to social networking websites (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn, among an increasing number of new sites daily).

I read a statistic today that two weeks ago Facebook reported to news sources that its user base almost matches the population of the United States (article here). And in July, a report stated that on Facebook, "there has been a staggering increase in the number of age 55+ users – with total growth of 513.7% in in the last six month alone."

Social networking offers people a way to connect with classmates, friends and family far and near, as well as business contacts. Sometimes, however, conflicts can emerge if users are not careful. Many social networking services, such as Facebook, provide the user with a choice of who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from accessing their information.

This brings me to an issue for discussion here today. What about Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) laws? Take a hypothetical... a hospital employee posts a fairly innocent comment on the "wall" of one of his network sites about a rather difficult case/work problem or patient scenario. A reader takes personal offense and feels the post exposed too much information about the work situation. Because we are in the healthcare business, we are held to HIPAA privacy laws and must be careful that in social networking that no specifics of a case are mentioned, such as patient names. Even so, for a medical professional to post ordinary work frustrations may be exposure and subject the writing to interpretation by others.

Are hospitals and healthcare companies providing guidance to employees about their online activities (such as not refer to work situations on a public board)? Are policies being instituted on social networking, such as a Social Media Best Practices Policy to sheild the ugly side of internet communications? I welcome discussion from other companies and facilities as to what their current policies are.

On HIPAA... I came across an internet site which specializes in interpreting some of the law for laypersons in the healthcare industry. HIPAA.com describes itself as this:

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) establishes national standards for electronic health care transactions. The great thing about HIPAA is that it reflects a move away from cumbersome paper records and an increased emphasis on the security and privacy of health data. But the magnitude of the complex changes it requires can sometimes be overwhelming for healthcare providers, compliance officers and other affected professionals. We’re here to help you meet the challenge and stay current with extensive documentation, helpful resources and expert commentary.

There are good things that come from social networking. A 2007 peer reviewed journal article on social networking in the medical field stated that, "Social networks are beginning to be adopted by healthcare professionals as a means to manage institutional knowledge, disseminate peer to peer knowledge and to highlight individual physicians and institutions. The advantage of using a dedicated medical social networking site is that all the members are screened against the state licensing board list of practitioners."

While all that is well and good, that doesn't mean problems won't happen.

Today I advised my employees with the following words to ponder, "As a yardstick, consider that whatever you put on the internet today might appear on the front page of tomorrow's New York Times."

What do you think? Have you run into any issues with social networking and privacy concerns?

Ralph E. Jordan
President & CEO
Trident Health Resources, Inc.

Emerging & Being Successful

As I ponder another growth spurt for Trident Health Resources, Inc. in which we, once again, will be hiring experienced perfusionists, adding new accounts far and wide across the country, and exploring expansion into other related services beyond those of our 21 years experience in contract services/staffing ,capital equipment, disposables and management… I am troubled. Where will we find the qualified, really good candidates that we will need? I am reminded of the universal struggle facing so many of us today. It's the struggle to reach and maintain a certain level of excellence and to be constant despite hardships, and find a way above the mediocrity of a sometimes less than inspired world.

Back in 1993, I read a book written by a Booz-Allen Health Care consultant, J Philip Lathrop , entitled Restructuring Health Care, the Patient Focused Care Paradigm. It was a turning point in the emerging corporate philosophy of our relatively new company. Patient focused care… so simple and yet so powerful. And it was a standard that we have tried to live by ever since and is a part of the Trident culture and the perfusion community, as well.

I am reminded...

In the early 1990's, American Scholar published a startling and prophetic essay by the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan entitled, How We've Become Accustomed to Alarming Levels of Crime and Destructive Behavior. Although Moynihan referenced the culture of crime in his writing, his terminology, “Defining deviancy Down “ rings true in its application of how some societies , countries, and even companies deviate from standards of excellence, in our case , the contracted health care services sector, thereby lowering the bar for others to aspire to less than excellent levels of performance. Moynihan argued that in American culture and politics, that as deviant behavior (or behavior that was less desirable, not up to standards previously held) increases, some crimes or poor behaviors become normalized and almost acceptable as the “new” standard, and only extraordinary events are considered truly egregious. While Moynihan was relevant in 1993, it is worth pondering in consideration of a changing landscape of business and healthcare… are we living up to the old standards that were so important when we were growing up or getting started in our Clinical or Business careers? Or, are we content to allow those standards to erode…to diminish…to slip down to a more comfortable acceptable level…defining deviancy down? With that pervasive attitude goes a "cutting corners" mentality in which the greatest services become average. Such is the risk , the reality and the challenge of applying Moynihan’s argument to present situations. How soon we forget that standards of excellence are not meant to be broken or diminished.

We've got to care and not succumb to the influences which can bring down our industry. I aspire to the old mantra , "Lead, follow , or get out of the way," and it's been said that if you don't adopt a philosophy to live by, then one will adopt you.... and the next thing you know, you are a follower of someone else's dream. Trident strives to stay current in the industry, embracing new ways, new technologies, choosing to grow instead of becoming victimized by the stagnation that any business might face. We have incorporated state-of-the-art technologies and computer systems to make sure our information data is secure and efficient. We place a premium value on service that is singularly patient focused. And we encourage our greatest assets…our employees… to not deviate from the standards that so successfully have inspired us to continue to be the best that we can.

I think of some of the important examples of such desire and zeal within Trident and of some in our Perfusion Community… The Aaron Hill's of the world left their mark. I remember the early years in this perfusion contract business, "The Golden Age," coined to represent the times when this industry could count on excellence in the graduates from Texas Heart, Ohio State, Medical University of South Carolina, for example. Perfusionists who were trained in the Army were both PA’s and then perfusionists were terrific candidates for employment. Bob Rush and his Shady Side School from Pittsburg was turning out exceptional grads who were experienced, well rounded, and had in excess of 150 solid cases to their name before graduation. You could count on these folks to make a difference... a lasting impression. Then, sadly, money and misdirection of motivations seemed to infiltrate some of the industry inasmuch as a patient focused care philosophy diminished as a key priority and the end product from many of the schools just do not have that spark, that zeal , that basic knowledge base , the case experience and the over all grasps of what is important and what is not.

Trident remains impassioned to succeed with excellence and fairness... We want to see this all around us. There was a time when there were no off-pump cases. Today, 40 cases are required to keep certification and yet the certifying board's standard for this hasn't kept up with the changes that are all around us. Perfusionists who are in involved with off pump programs sometime struggle to get enough experience to hone skills. It takes everyone to make changes... for things to get better.

Our sector is changing exponentially with the advancements of technology. I am very excited about the training simulators that are now available and by the advancement in technology that will aid us in sharpening our skills. I recently saw a video highlighting the statistics about the speed of change affecting us. Wow. Some of the stats are shocking and reveal how it is essential we be prepared to face the accelerating rate of change. This video clip, below, is a Must See and impacts all of us. The video is full of quotable facts regarding our current state of global competitiveness and underscores how we can continue to expect Shift to be a constant.

Please take a moment to view this clip (close to 5 million people have watched since it was released last year). Feel free to post comments.


Sincerely,

Ralph E. Jordan
CEO & President