WASHINGTON - June 18, 2020 - Today the Healthcare Business Management Association (HBMA) announced that NCDS Medical Billing has earned re-accreditation under the HBMA Compliance Accreditation Program for revenue cycle management (RCM) companies (a.k.a., medical billing and medical practice management companies) and offered its congratulations. The HBMA Compliance Accreditation Program is designed to assess compliance with a range of federal healthcare industry regulations, including provisions to protect patient privacy under HIPAA, promote cybersecurity, and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in medical billing.
NCDS Medical Billing is an RCM company based in Cleveland, Ohio that serves health care providers in twelve states. "In these challenging times having the proper compliance plans in place and guidance from HCP to keep them current has been a key to enabling NCDS to continue to serve our clients efficiently and without interruption through this public health emergency. Being able to maintain these high standards and attain reaccreditation is must in today's business environment," said Mick Polo, President of NCDS Medical Billing.
"HBMA recognizes that in medical billing and revenue cycle management the security threats and federal regulations are continually expanding and evolving. There are severe consequences for not staying current in this environment. When a company earns HBMA Compliance Accreditation by independent evaluation, it is only valid for one year. To renew their accreditation NCDS Medical Billing was required to pass another independent evaluation to verify that it still surpasses federal regulations and employs best practices to protect confidential patient medical information, safeguard their data systems, and prevent fraud," said Cindy Pittmon, RCC, CHBME, FRBMA, president of HBMA.
Healthcare providers trust and rely on RCM companies to ensure the privacy and security of their protected health information (PHI) and to operate with billing policies and practices that meet regulatory requirements. The HBMA Compliance Accreditation Program independently assesses the participating company's program to fulfill those obligations. Because change in healthcare and its regulatory environment are constant, accreditation must be earned annually to meet new guidelines and requirements.
The HBMA Compliance Accreditation Program assesses compliance with HIPAA and with Health and Human Service Office of Inspector General compliance standards on fraud, waste and abuse; the Stark Law, which is designed to prevent conflicts of interest by medical providers in their prescribed patient care; federal Anti-kickback law; and the OIG work plan. The assessment under the HBMA Compliance Accreditation Program includes an annual comprehensive evaluation of the policies and practices of RCM companies with respect to employee training; security risks, including the security of confidential patient health information; documentation storage and handling; practices to promote compliance with federal regulations; disaster and emergency preparedness plans; and human resources practices, including background check procedures and onboarding.
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