Today I want to talk about the odds of being audited.

It’s been all over the news lately that OCR has finally launched their Phase 2 audit program, ushering in a series of 200 desk and onsite audits that will be completed by the end of the year. If you consider the odds of being randomly selected for one of these Phase 2 audits, you wouldn’t be alone in thinking that the chances are slim. It’s a claim we’ve seen time and again.

But set aside these Phase 2 audits for a moment and consider that two of the largest fines ever–totaling $5.5 million–were levied against North Memorial Health System of Minnesota and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research just a few weeks ago. In each of these cases, an OCR investigation was triggered by a PHI breach. And in each case, OCR discovered a lapse in the organization’s HIPAA compliance which lead to these behemoth fines.

So while the odds of being selected for a Phase 2 audit are relatively slim, the odds of having a breach and triggering OCR investigation are as high as they’ve ever been.

If you need help with your compliance efforts, reach out to VE Cycle Management today.  We can get you on track wth Compliancy Guard, the tool that saves you more than money.

Read on to check out some of the content we’ve put out this month, and some of the free educational webinars we have slated for the weeks ahead. And remember that Compliancy Group is here to give you compliance with confidence.

Marc Haskelson 

President, CEO