Though most healthcare entities have complied, at least in part, to most HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations, adherence to the Security Rule remains low, according to the twice-yearly study undertaken by Phoenix Health Systems and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The deadline for compliance was more than a year ago, yet 80 percent of payers and just 56 percent of providers indicated that they have implemented the rules. Even those that have implemented the Security Rule reported that they have yet to bring online all of the key portions of the rule. The study found that hospitals with more than 100 beds are the least compliant with Security Rule. “Though we have no direct data explaining why small hospitals/large practices have made so much progress in the last six months in Security, the fact that larger hospitals have more complex systems/processes infrastructures has been a key factor in their slower compliance,” said D’Arcy Guerin Gue, executive vice president, Phoenix Health Systems. “By inference, it is possible that the simpler infrastructures of smaller organizations have contributed to their greater compliance levels.”

More: http://www.hipaadvisory.com/news/newsarchives/2006/1013survey.htm