Here’s What’s New at National Imaging Associates
August 2003
We are proud to announce, in this first issue of our News Update newsletter, NIA INSIGHTS, that we have been awarded URAC 's HIPAA Privacy Accreditation.
As you know, NIA is already URAC-accredited for utilization management. Now we are the only radiology management organization to receive accreditation for our HIPAA privacy compliance program for all the Protected Health Information we receive in the course of our operations.
This underscores our belief that accreditation is a vital factor in assuring quality health care, particularly with regard to embracing, applying, and continuously enhancing information privacy standards. As leaders in radiology management, we have made a commitment to our customers and are continuously developing and implementing programs for quality improvement. URAC privacy accreditation solidifies this effort.
"Achieving URAC HIPAA Privacy Accreditation is a great accomplishment for these companies and speaks to the quality of their HIPAA compliance programs," said Garry Carneal, URAC president and CEO. "URAC is pleased to have launched a third-party evaluation program that helps health care organizations validate their HIPAA compliance efforts internally and to external stakeholders such as the government, professional liability insurers, consumers and other interested parties."
The URAC program is the nation’s first independent HIPAA privacy accreditation program. We, at NIA, are proud to be a part of it.
In addition, we continue to make progress in other ways, too:
Our new call center is open in Phoenix and taking consultation calls in the same efficient manner as we do in our Rancho Cordova operations center.
We are anticipating security accreditation from URAC. This will be the nation's first and only independent HIPAA security accreditation program for covered entities and business associates. NIA is one of ten companies currently in the process of seeking accreditation under the program.
We are also looking forward to receiving privacy accreditation from JCAHO/NCQA. The new program – Privacy Certification for Business Associates – is designed to assess whether organizations referred to as business associates under HIPAA are meeting essential requirements for safeguarding personally-identifiable health information. NIA is one of eight organizations now committed to seeking certification.
NIA INSIGHTS is dedicated to keeping you up to date on developments at NIA and in the field of radiology benefits management. Looking ahead, we will be using this new vehicle to enhance our communications with you.
