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Compliance & Privacy Office

UCI Health takes seriously its commitment to complying with all laws and regulations governing the provision of healthcare.

The federal government, with its increased oversight of Medicare and Medicaid providers, has made it clear that all UCI Health employees are expected to take responsibility for appropriate ethical and legal behavior in the workplace. The penalties for noncompliance are considerable.

The purpose of the UCI Health compliance program is to:

  • Maintain and enhance our quality of care and services.
  • Demonstrate sincere, ongoing efforts to comply with all applicable laws.
  • Revise and clarify current policies and procedures in order to enhance compliance.
  • Enhance communications with governmental entities regarding compliance activities.
  • Empower all responsible parties to prevent, detect, respond to, report and resolve conduct that does not conform to applicable laws, regulations and the UCI Health Code of Conduct.
  • Establish mechanisms for employees to raise questions and concerns about compliance issues and ensure those concerns are appropriately addressed.

 

NOTICE TO PATIENTS
OPEN PAYMENTS DATABASE:

For informational purposes only, a link to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments web page is provided here. The federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires that detailed information about payment and other payments of value worth over ten dollars ($10) from manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, and biologics to physicians and teaching hospital be made available to the public. At the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments web page, you may search a federal database for payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals.

 

 

Privacy

As a healthcare provider, UCI Health is required to protect the privacy of our patients and their personal health information under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The law, which requires that patients be able to transfer and continue their healthcare insurance coverage, mandates the protection and confidential handling of all personal health information.

Learn more about privacy compliance ›

View frequently asked questions about HIPAA ›

Security

The UCI Health HIPAA Security Compliance Program is designed to implement 18 standards to protect the security of patient information.

Some of these security standards are required, such as having a unique user ID for each person who accesses patient information. Other standards are “addressable,” and we must either implement the rule or document an alternative method of achieving data protection.

The security compliance program ensures that the highest risks to electronic information security are assessed and addressed. Additional compliance activities include: maintaining audit logs of those who access systems and conducting scans of systems for external intrusions; providing education and training on security issues, and periodically reminding staff of ways to protect information. 

Learn more about security compliance ›

The Compliance & Privacy Office administers the Research Compliance Program under the direction of the chief compliance officer, deputy compliance officer and the research compliance officer. 

The program furthers the commitment of UCI Health and the College of Health Sciences to advance the knowledge and practice of medicine through scholarly research, physician education and the provision of high-quality medical care to patients through a framework that fosters a culture of research integrity and compliance with federal, state, sponsor, university and The Joint Commission standards. 

Learn more about research compliance ›

 

Our regulatory compliance program ensures that UCI Medical Center's clinical laboratories, its officers, managers, employees and independent contractors who engage in the sale, performance and billing of laboratory services maintain the business integrity and honesty required of a participant/supplier in federally funded healthcare programs.

Through this compliance program, UCI Health Pathology Services is committed to improving the quality, efficiency and consistency of laboratory services. We also promote compliance with the complex legal requirements, such as ensuring that:

  • Only laboratory services that have been provided are billed
  • Services are accurately reported
  • The medical necessity for services billed is documented

Learn more about our Laboratory Compliance requirements ›

Annual notice to physicians PDF ›

Hospital Billing Compliance

The UCI Health hospital billing compliance program seeks to:

  • Enhance education and training programs about the rules and regulations governing hospital billing
  • Monitor and audit billing activities to identify potentially troublesome issues, take corrective and preventative actions, and foster effective communication on common compliance issues
  • Assess the effectiveness of existing policies and procedures and identify potential risk area

Learn more about Hospital Billing Compliance ›

Professional Billing Compliance

Our professional billing compliance program's goals are to:

  • Enhance education and training programs for physicians, non-physician providers (NPP), residents, medical students and coding staff
  • Conduct monitoring and auditing activities according to federal and state guidelines for potential high-risk areas identified by the U.S. Office of the Inspector General and other programs
  • Ensure that only the services provided are: billed to the appropriate third-party payer, accurately documented and medically necessary

Learn more about Professional Billing Compliance ›

Research Billing Compliance

The clinical research billing compliance program goals are to:

  • Provide an internal mechanism for quality assurance, quality improvement and education, pursuant to regulations governing research financial compliance, research revenue integrity and research coordinators
  • Conduct monitoring and auditing activities according to all institutional policies and federal and state laws and regulations of potential high-risk protocols defined as high volume of clinical services or mixture of services billed to the study and services billed to the third party payers
  • Ensure that only the clinical research claims that are provided are: billed to the right payer, accurately documented and medically necessary

Learn more about Research Billing Compliance ›

In addition to compliance with the requirements of law, UCI Health officers and employees must avoid the appearance of favoritism in all of their dealings on behalf of the University of California, Irvine.

All UCI Health officers and employees are expected to act with integrity and good judgment, and to recognize that the acceptance of personal gifts from those doing business or seeking to do business with the university — even when lawful — may give rise to legitimate concerns about favoritism, depending on the circumstances.

Additionally, while offers of free or discounted goods, gifts, benefits, donations, honoraria, travel expenses or grants for teaching or research programs frequently serve an important and socially beneficial function, they may, in some circumstances, violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and similar California laws.

Learn more about UCI Health vendor relations and policies ›

Compliance Contacts

Chief Compliance & Privacy Officer
714-456-8778


Deputy Compliance Officer
714-456-8778


Compliance and Privacy Office
714-456-3916

Confidential Messages

Call 888-456-7006 or email

hacompliance@uci.edu

Notice of Privacy Practice

View the UCI Health Notice of Privacy Practice in English or in Spanish.

Compliance Tips

View our latest tip sheets ›

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