Posted on March 2, 2004 at 12:10 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) and AllStates Technical Services, Inc. (AllStates) have collaborated to provide commercial access to HIPAA compliance information developed by UAB. Through a technology transfer, AllStates has licensed UAB’s HIPAA intelligence and will package the information into an Internet portal to offer clients a HIPAA compliance solution.

HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, went into effect last April. It requires health care providers to strictly protect patient-related information.

“As a university, research center and hospital, our organization faced a difficult and complex task in order to assure HIPAA compliance. We developed what has become our ‘best practices’ for compliance standards, and we still rely on that information today, said John Piazza, UAB Data Security Officer and HIPAA Compliance Officer.

UAB compiled the information according to HIPAA implementation and compliance standards as a fundamental repository of best practices. Subsequently, other university and hospital organizations utilized this source to help in their own compliance efforts. AllStates will develop a portal that provides compliance solutions over the Internet, or at the clients’ site, as a consulting service to Healthcare Providers and Payers. Information provided will range from planning the compliance process, to providing gap analysis, training and much more. The portal will also provide a full menu of solution options consisting of, but not limited to, audit, assessment, remediation, and process development/monitoring services.