Posted by: Robert Markette
December 13, 2005

There is an interesting dispute developing between JCAHO and AHA.  It seems that JCAHO wants to get into the “data business.”  Under this plan, JCAHO would use patient health information obtained as part of the hospital accreditation process to generate reports and other information for use by third parties.  JCAHO’s proposal would have the hospital disclosing under the guise of accreditation, but the business associate agreement would give JCAHO freedom to use the information for purposes beyond accreditation, including generating reports and analyses for third parties.

AHA is, understandably, upset by this, because of the privacy concerns it creates and because, under a recent DOJ opinion, JCAHO will be immune from prosecution.  For those of you who don’t know, in June the Department of Justice announced that only covered entities are subject to prosecution under HIPAA.  In other words, the business associate may be liable under other laws, but not under HIPAA.

This is of interest to home health providers, because it may be a harbinger of similar dispute with home health providers.  If JCAHO thinks there is value to it in providing a similar analysis of home health patient data, providers may soon be approached by JCAHO with a similar request to allow JCAHO to use home health agency patient data for research.

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