The Office of Healthcare Compliance and Privacy is pleased to welcome Melissa Walsh to our team as a Compliance Specialist. Melissa is an experienced healthcare professional with expertise in clinical documentation and coding, revenue cycle management and healthcare compliance.

In her new role, Melissa will be assisting UConn Health’s clinical operations with their compliance inquiries and initiatives. In addition, she will be assisting with the development and implementation of the institution’s annual compliance plan.

Please join us in extending a warm welcome to Melissa and wishing her success in her new position!

Effective September 1, 2021, UConn Health will begin monitoring access to axiUm using FairWarning, a privacy monitoring tool that will enhance UConn Health’s ability to detect and respond to potential privacy violations, such as inappropriate access to patient records.

To help you understand FairWarning, the UConn Health Privacy team has prepared the following educational materials:

• FairWarning FAQs for Managers;

• A reminder about inappropriate “snooping” into patient records; and

• An important reminder about employees accessing their own or a family member’s medical record.

In addition, please review Snooping and the Patient Lookup Feature in Epic and axiUm. Remember: searching for a patient by name or other identifier in the patient look up field (i.e. Rolodex) without a job-related need is snooping. Although the patient look up field does not open the patient chart, it is part of the electronic health record and displays protected health information (PHI). Please look up patients only when your job requires it.

If you have questions about FairWarning or UConn Health privacy policies, please contact your supervisor or a member of UConn Health’s Privacy team at privacyoffice@uchc.edu or x7226.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to protecting patient privacy at UConn Health!