The provider of the leading healthcare payor solution is having its annual user conference in San Diego next month, as Amisys customers meet to discuss the future of their installations on HP 3000s. McKessonHBOC was in due diligence mode to try to sell the Payor Solutions Group during January, according to sources in the Payor Solutions Group, but the sale may not be the biggest thing on Amisys customers’ minds. Most are trying to get their arms around the wide-ranging mandates of the HIPAA regulations, US government rules designed to protect the privacy of patients by securing access and developing audit trails around their medical information. HIPAA isn’t a part of the Amisys application yet — nobody has a solution that includes what the regulation requires. Managers from Amisys sites say that HIPAA compliance will make the Y2K repairs look simple by comparison, since companies must implement the security regulations inside their IT business practices. McKesson HBOC has formed a 12-customer HIPAA Advisory Council whose mission is “helping assess the company's strategies in meeting HIPAA requirements,” which might be interpreted as recommending how the Fortune 40 firm’s software should be altered and enhanced to comply with the regs.

The Amisys user group meeting is April 26-27 at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina, in conjunction with the McKessonHBOC Payor Solutions Group User Conference that begins April 23. The Amisys meeting doesn’t have an additional fee in excess of the McKessonHBOC conference fee. HBOC’s Mark McLaughin will give a 90-minute HIPAA Update, a general discussion on user plans for Implementation. Details on registering for the McKessonHBOC event are at 610.296.3838; more details on the Amisys user group can be had at the group’s Web site, www.dmba.com/augrp. You can register via e-mail with Kathy Taylor at ktaylor@partnershealth.com.