Outsourcing Law & Business Journal™: February 2009

Posted January 27, 2009 by   · Print This Post Print This Post

OUTSOURCING LAW & BUSINESS JOURNAL (™) : Strategies and rules for adding value and improving legal and regulation compliance through business process management techniques in strategic alliances, joint ventures, shared services and cost-effective, durable and flexible sourcing of services. www.outsourcing-law.com. Visit our blog at http://blog.outsourcing-law.com for commentary on current events.

Insights by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C., Editors.  www.biercekenerson.com

Vol. 9, No. 2 (February, 2009)
___________________________

1.  The Coming Federal Health IT Monopoly: Electronic Health Records and Health Privacy Rules under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

2.  Humor.

3.  Conferences.
___________________________

1.  The Coming Federal Health IT Monopoly: Electronic Health Records and Health Privacy Rules under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Buried in the Obama administration’s economic stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or ARRA) is the “HITECH Act”, a major revision to the healthcare industry technology, promoting universal electronic health records (defined in the laws as “EHR”, which some call e-medical records, or “EMR”). The stimulus law lays the groundwork for socialized medicine by 2016. It’s consistent with Obanomics policies of more regulation and eventual federalization of health care. Third party administrators, SAAS-based healthcare software companies and other “business associates” of “covered entities” (health care providers, health plans and health insurance carriers) face new statutory liability for breach of protected health records. The HITECH Act also applies to data vendors.

The HITECH Act brings outsourcing data processors, data vendors and others not previously covered under the HIPAA and new federal data breach notification rules.

A new bureaucracy is established.   For the HITECH Act Regulatory Organizational chart, click hereFor the full article, click here.

2. Humor.

Stimulus, n. (1) push; (2) shove; (30) nationalization.

EHR, n. (1) everything hopelessly revealed; (2) acronym for “electronic health record.”

3. Conferences.
February 23-24, 2009, American Conference Institute LPO Summit, New York, New York. ACI’s Legal Process Outsourcing Summit is designed for both in-house counsel and law firms who are still evaluating the viability of offshore outsourcing, plus those who already have outsourcing operations in place but who want to stay ahead of the latest industry developments to optimize their business practices. For more info, click here.

February 23-25, 2009, IQPC 6th Annual Procure-to-Pay Summit, Miami, Florida. SSON and IQPC’s Procure-to-Pay series returns with the 6th installment this February!  Following the tremendous success of the last events and traction from leaders in the space, the 2-track agenda promises to deliver tools to help bridge purchasing with payables and enable process excellence throughout each and every segment of the P2P cycle, including improving the bottom line, optimizing available resources and managing process change. For more info, click here.

February 26, 2009, Global Services Conference, New York, New York. This year’s theme is “Revisiting Global Sourcing in a Challenging Economy”.  The financial crisis and the economic meltdown have put pressure on organizations of all types. In a more globalized world, the dimensions of global engagement have increased and so has the impact.  In challenging economic conditions, global sourcing of services throws up new opportunities.  The 2009 Global Services Conference will have expert discussions around how customers of business and technology services can revisit their global sourcing strategies to tap into these opportunities. In a jam-packed day filled with thought-leaders, peer discussions, workshops and real-world case studies, the 2009 Global Services Conference breaks new ground in providing content to help executives determine how to establish business value in outsourcing engagements. Global Services will also present the findings of its annual Global Services 100 research study at an awards and cocktail reception. Click here for more info.

March 22-27, 2009, IQPC’s 13th Annual Shared Services Week, Orlando, Florida. SSON’s Shared Services Week™ is the community event for all levels of Shared Services professionals around the globe. With over 900+ past attendees from 22+ countries each year, it is the “Can’t Miss” event for everyone involved with shared services. In it’s 13th year, the event is bigger than ever! We have added additional tracks, more expert speakers, a larger exhibit hall and new content. Experience the most renowned Shared Services conference ever and take away key insights you will learn no where else. Network with experts in the industry and create contacts for life. Receive a 30% discount when you register by using code IUS_OSL_#3. Call 1-800-882-8684 or visit us online.

April 27-29, 2009, IQPC’s 7th Annual e-Discovery Conference, San Francisco, California. Join this year’s conference to learn more about managing the process of electronic discovery files and to explore options that are available for this task. Proactive e-discovery solutions are more critical to legal departments yet the solutions for costs, implementation, and management are still widely unknown. This conference will provide strategies for e-discovery success including proactive strategies for record management; global privacy issues, data security laws, regulations; specific cost control options; judicial perspective; and cutting edge software solutions. For more info, click here.

May 5-6, 2009, 7th Annual HRO WorldConference & Expo at NY HR Week, New York, New York. At the Hilton New York – The leading event for learning proven advice from the HR outsourcing industry’s most respected practitioners, analysts and vendors. You’ll take away solutions for the strategic and operational challenges associated with HR outsourcing and retained functions. With a dozen breakout sessions, presentations from leading organizations including Bank of America, US Postal Service and Hertz Europe, and an Industry Leaders’ Panel, you’ll find solutions to your most pressing outsourcing challenges. Register by April 10 with Source code HROL and save $100. Register online at www.HROWorld.com or call 1-800-727-1227.

May 11-14, 2009, 9th Annual European Shared Services and Outsourcing Week, Budapest, Hungary. Featuring the annual global Shared Services Excellence Awards, where the shared services and sourcing world shapes its future. Novotel Budapest Congress, Hungary. This event iis the European arm of a global series of regional flagship events designed to bring together everybody who’s anybody in the combined worlds of captive shared services and outsourcing. SSOW is the largest gathering of Shared Services professionals in Europe and home to the annual Shared Services Excellence Awards. This multifunctional programme covers transformation strategies for all back office functions from Finance, HR, IT, procurement – through to multifunctional hubs. Whatever scale and whatever size of the organisation, if you’re pushing back office efficiency through a captive, outsourced, or mixed model route, this is the must attend event for your continent. Join over 60 contributors. To register for a limited 2-for-1 offer (for practitioners only, terms and conditions apply), quote code MP16. Early-Bird registration: save up to 350 EUR if you register before Friday 27th March 2009. For more information: Email: enquire@SSOWeek.com, Tel: +44 (0) 207 368 9300 or visit our website.

May 18-20, 2009, 6th Annual HR Shared Services & Outsourcing Summit, Chicago, Illinois. The 6th Annual HR Shared Services Summit is the most important event of the year for HR leaders seeking to re-align their services with the strategic requirements of the business. This successful event brings together senior HR leaders in an exciting interactive forum, delivering best practice case studies aimed at optimizing every stage within the HR transformation process. Given historic economic conditions, it’s more important than ever that HR leaders exploit the dramatic economies of scale that are available to them through shared service structures. And for more mature companies – those that have already made the transition to an HR shared service model – there is an urgent need to re-align the kinds of services they offer with increasingly tough business challenges. Click here for more info.

******************************************

FEEDBACK: This newsletter addresses legal issues in sourcing of IT, HR, finance and accounting, procurement, logistics, manufacturing, customer relationship management including outsourcing, shared services, BOT and strategic acquisitions for sourcing. Send us your suggestions for article topics, or report a broken link at: webmaster@outsourcing-law.com The information provided herein does not necessarily constitute the opinion of Bierce & Kenerson, P.C. or any author or its clients. This newsletter is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Reproductions must include our copyright notice. For reprint permission, please contact: publisher@outsourcing-law.com . Edited by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C. Copyright (c) 2009, Outsourcing Law Global LLC. All rights reserved.  Editor in Chief: William Bierce of Bierce & Kenerson, P.C. located at 420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 2920, New York, NY 10170, 212-840-0080.