SAMHSA, the Office for Civil Rights, and the
Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS)—all
within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—offer
a variety of resources to help providers comply with HIPAA:
- SAMHSA's HIPAA Web
page at www.hipaa.samhsa.gov
offers a wealth of information, including:
- A searchable database of documents related to HIPAA
compliance
- An updated list of procedure codes for mental health
and substance abuse treatment
- Audioconferences on different HIPAA standards
- A document called The Confidentiality of Alcohol
and Drug Abuse Patient Records Regulation and the
HIPAA Privacy Rule: Implications for Alcohol and
Substance Abuse Programs (under development).
- The HHS Office
for Civil Rights, the Agency responsible for enforcing
the HIPAA Privacy Rule, has a Web site at
www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa. The site allows
visitors to use keywords to search its extensive list of
Frequently Asked Questions.
- CMS,
the Agency responsible for enforcing the electronic transactions
and code sets standards, the security standards, and the
identifier standards, also has a Web site at www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2.
- Handbooks about each of the eight electronic transactions
covered by HIPAA
are available at www.mhsip.org/ds2k+.htm.
The handbooks include transaction descriptions, definitions,
and data checklists.
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