Covansys Offers HIPAA Assessment Services

Covansys is making house calls. In recent months, the solutions provider has been calling and visiting health-care customers, to see if they need HIPAA assessment services.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is a controversial initiative from the government that may force health-care providers to overhaul many of their IT systems (see http://www.zdnet.com/sp/stories/issue/0,4537,2814570,00.html).

Most health-care organizations have yet to assess their systems for HIPAA compliance. But Covansys says its ready to assist proactive IT managers in the health-care industry.

In one prime example, Covansys will assess the effect of HIPAA privacy and security requirements on CHA Health, a managed care provider in Lexington, Ky.

Under terms of the deal, Covansys will review CHAs code sets to provide a gap analysis and remediation plan that will assist in achieving HIPAA compliance. CHA Health retains the option of expanding the engagement to include project oversight and implementation of the remediation plan.

Covansys says it has completed more than 40 HIPAA-related engagements in the past 11 months.

The HIPAA initiative has helped Covansys to weather the economic storm better than many solutions providers. For its Q3 ended Sept. 30, Covansys year-over-year revenue dropped 5.2 percent to $100.1 million. However, the company says it is encouraged to maintain quarterly revenue performance at the $100 million level, amid the economic slowdown and Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.