Are you utilizing laptops within your Practice that are being transported out of the office?  Do you have staff that are telecommuting with the use of laptops?  Are laptops being transported to multiple satellite locations?

It is highly recommended to encrypt all media devices that may contain electronic protected health information (ePHI) and to implement a written Device & Media Control Policy.  Practices should consider implementing the reasonable and appropriate safeguards for the protection of ePHI such as encryption.

Olivia Wann joined the Dental Guys to discuss what exactly determines how we practice when we go back to work? Recently, OSHA has weighed in with guidelines for dental practices to protect our workers. How much of the federal OSHA guidelines will apply to your state? Can this conflict with other authorities who say it is okay to return to work and what do we do about it? Olivia Wann, attorney and dental OSHA compliance expert of Modern Practice Solutions joins us to discuss this and also to help us make more sense about the rollercoaster ride we have been on in our state just today with these very issues.

If you elect to take paid sick leave, your employer must continue your health coverage. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), an employer cannot establish a rule for eligibility or set any individual’s premium or contribution rate based on whether an individual is actively at work (including whether an individual is continuously employed), unless absence from work due to any health factor (such as being absent from work on sick leave) is treated, for purposes of the plan or health insurance coverage, as being actively at work.

First off, thank you for taking great care of your patients. Infection prevention has never been so highlighted, but we know so many of you stay dedicated to the CDC’s recommendations every day.

Second, many offices are reaching out with questions regarding waterline maintenance given that many offices are moving to limited or postponed care. We’ve coordinated with a few other manufacturers to help you know how to mitigate the rapid biofilm development to be expected within your DUWL during limited care.

As a dental hygienist, I never had to think about amalgam. I would mention a bluish stain along my patient’s gingival margin and ask her about her other tattoos. I would marvel at the amalgamator while dusting the unused equipment in the lab (aka “the land where time forgot”). I had requirements in hygiene school to polish them until they blinded the instructor, using Brownies and Greenies, and you know that I had a memory device for the order: “Tree trunks are Brownie, and they grow first. Greenie leaves grow last.” I certainly didn’t worry about where amalgam ended up when the dentist replaced it with composite.

We have received numerous support calls regarding the mask shortage.  Please read this information carefully.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Some people have reported other symptoms while others report no symptoms at all. CDC indicates that symptoms of COVID-19 may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after an exposure.

Ransomware hits 400 dental offices. Cybercriminals are now demanding ransom directly from the patients according to one Florida plastic surgeon who had to post a notification on his website. Cybercriminals seek hundreds of thousands of dollars to decrypt your data held at ransom. HIPAA fines and penalties can be millions of dollars. Do you feel like you are losing your sanity trying to maintain your office’s cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance?

The first step in achieving cybersanity is to learn about cybersecurity. You can’t run from it. Simply having a trusted IT person is not sufficient.

As a human, our hands are pretty important. As a dental professional, they’re mandatory!

When it comes to selecting items for Professional Hand Safety, use your head! Utility gloves are meant to protect you from SHARPS and CHEMICALS, not butter knives and dish detergent. Exam gloves aren’t going to provide the level of protection you need. Utility gloves need to be made from strong material such as rubber, nitrile, or latex and be given worthy titles such as “puncture resistant” and “heavy duty”. The right type may not be available at Walgreens. Yes, it’d be nice if they carried them, but we can’t have everything.

I’ve always been a cautious individual. I never wanted scars or great stories of how I narrowly escaped harm. I like my teeth, limbs, and eyebrows just the way they came, and the emergency room doesn’t seem thrilling. However, I realize there are some daredevils out there. I knew a couple of girls in high school who lit their batons on fire and performed for hundreds at football games. I didn’t envy their fame a bit, and I always wondered if they got burned. Whether you enjoy the adrenaline rush or not, I bet no one at your place of employment wants to be out of work due to a fire. So, if a fire began in your vicinity, what would you do?

IADW was created to recognize all the devoted, hardworking assistance dogs helping individuals mitigate their disability-related limitations. The goals of IADW are to:

• Recognize and honor assistance dogs
• Raise awareness and educate the public about assistance dogs
• Honor puppy raisers and trainers
• Recognize heroic deeds performed by assistance dogs in our communities

Some of the top breaches happen due to unauthorized users accessing ePHI. What exactly is an unauthorized user? An unauthorized user is any individual(s) who have not been authorized or have not been given access to ePHI. It is the person or persons who used the protected health information or to whom the disclosure of protected health information was made. Under HIPAA, this is considered a breach and by law is reportable. Breaches of ePHI can be caused by mistakes (someone loses a laptop) or by a bad actor (hacker, rogue employee).

This video addresses the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance’s recent position regarding dental service plans.

Bullying includes acts of cruelty, belittlement, degradation, yelling or screaming, excessive or unjustified criticism, public reprimand or behavior intended to punish, such as ignoring or excluding someone from workplace activities, intimidation, ridicule, threats, insults or sarcasm, humiliating or demeaning a person in front of others, trivialization of views and opinions, or unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct, sabotaging someone’s ability to do their job, unfairly blaming them for mistakes or stealing credit for their work, assigning an excess of work deliberately to cause stress to the individual, or physical violence such as pushing, shoving, or throwing of objects.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published new guidelines, Tuberculosis Screening, Testing, and Treatment of U.S. Health Care Personnel: Recommendations from the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association and CDC on May 17, 2019.  These revised recommendations update those published in year 2005. 

The goal in healthcare is to provide early identification and prophylactic treatment of personnel who convert a TB skin test and prevent the spread of nosocomial TB within the facility. 

According to the CDC, health care personnel working in the U.S. are no longer considered at an increased risk for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and TB disease from occupational exposures.  Based on these findings, routine serial TB testing at any interval after baseline in the absence of known exposure or ongoing transmission is no longer recommended.  

All ePHI that is created, received, maintained, or transmitted by an organization is subject to the HIPAA Security Rule. What is the HIPAA Security Rule exactly? “The HIPAA Security Rule establishes national standards to protect individuals’ electronic personal health information that is created, received, used, or maintained by a covered entity.” https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/security/index.html