Stephens County Hospital

Hospital to begin new patient privacy policy

Ross Willis - Toccoa Record

Stephens County Hospital is preparing for the full implementation of federal HIPPA regulations.

Hospital quality improvement manager and compliance officer Tina DeBord told hospital authority members that preparations for following these new government mandated procedures are coming along smoothly and rapidly.

HIPPA is the new set of rules and regulations mandated by the federal government for all healthcare providers that is intended to guarantee patients’ medical privacy.

“The initial training for our staff is almost completed for everyone. We are continuing our focus within the areas of registration and medical records, as these are key points for HIPPA,” DeBord said.

“April 14 will mark the deadline for all of the HIPPA regulations to be followed. We will have to be in complete compliance at that point,” she said.

Hospital administrator Ed Gambrell said that Stephens County Hospital is already following much of the HIPPA requirements, and that meeting that strict deadline will not be a problem.

“We have been following many of these regulations, and we are not going to wait until the April 14 deadline to implement them all,” Gambrell said.

“We will begin full implementation Monday. That way, with the new policies that we will begin following at that time, we will have time before the deadline to make sure that we are doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing. This will give us time to learn from the new policies what we may need to change or modify,” he said.

The administrator said that part of the HIPPA regulations pertaining to transaction, security and computer coding will be implemented later on, as these things are not part of the requirements that must be in place by April 14.

In other business:

Authority members approved changes to employee insurance as recommended by the personnel committee.
Authority member Elliott Caudell said that he is pleased with the facility’s performance for last month.

“We had a very good month. Our outpatient revenues increased tremendously to over $98,000,” Caudell said. “Also, the Clary and Wilkinson centers did really well, and we are very proud of that,” he said.
The authority unanimously approved a borrowing resolution for the purchase of a fluoroscopy machine and an ultrasound machine for the radiology department that was approved for purchase during last month’s meeting.

The borrowing resolution is required by banks and the IRS for non-profit organizations before such a loan may be granted.

The Bank of Toccoa loan will be repaid over a five-year period, and is for a total of $457,720, not including interest.
Caudell extended his congratulations to long-term past authority member W.C. Clary on his recent marriage and honeymoon.
Authority member Bill Hunt said that he noticed that a “different” sort of foundation for the hospital emergency department had been poured by contractors.

Gambrell said that workers ran into a complication while preparing for the pouring of the foundation.

“Last week, they ran into some ‘bad dirt’. They found old building debris that had been covered by dirt back from when the hospital was first constructed. You can’t build on top of that material, so they had to get rid of it,” Gambrell said.

“They were forced to dig six feet down, eight feet out away from the current building for a 125-foot stretch and fill it with concrete so the construction would be sound and could continue,” he said.

Hunt said that the construction project was moving along quite well, and authority chairman Ferman Gregory said that he is pleased with the landscaping of the hospital campus.

Gregory commended the yard crew on their work on the facility’s grounds in maintaining the landscaping.
Hunt encouraged other authority members to attend any future trustee conferences, as they were “a tremendous experience” for himself and fellow authority member Queenelle Neal, both of who attended the last conference.