Your HIPAA Compliance Guide
In the pursuit of healthcare innovation, electronic health records have skyrocketed. To ensure the privacy and security of these susceptible transactions, HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was written with several compliance requirements in mind.
Your healthcare organization or institution must be HIPAA compliant to provide you with these services. This guide shows you how to make sure your company can stay on top of the regulations while using electronic health records effectively.
Why is HIPAA Compliance Important?
Healthcare is one of the most severely regulated businesses in the United States. It is one of the most regulated industries in the world.
The name HIPAA itself may be something you see for the first time. This is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act signed into law in 1996 (and has been periodically updated ever since).
HIPAA protections have been put into place to ensure that your medical records are kept private and secure no matter where they are transmitted or stored. HIPAA compliance is a must if you are a healthcare provider and you have access to any confidential, identifiable information such as patient records or billing data.
HIPAA Compliance Rules
HIPAA rules apply to anyone in possession of private information or health records, such as your billing office. HIPAA compliance also applies to anyone who may have access to this personal information, including a third-party service provider. Particular technical standards must be satisfied in addition to these two elements of the equation to avoid violations and penalties.
HIPAA Privacy Rule
One of the most critical aspects of HIPAA is privacy. It explains how to manage PHI while being HIPAA compliant in further detail. It mandates that covered businesses have appropriate protections in place to guarantee that private information is protected and enable individuals to get a copy of their medical data with ease.
The HIPAA privacy rule protects patients and healthcare providers by ensuring that certain identifiable health information is kept private, secure, and not used for marketing purposes. It is enforced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the U.S.
HIPAA Security Rule
You must follow the HIPAA Security rule’s particular technological, administrative, and physical precautions. To comply with technical safeguards, you must be able to secure ePHI across all of your networks so that it is not exposed to unauthorized parties or illegally disposed of.
The data must be appropriately safeguarded, whether it is stored or delivered through a network. This usually entails encrypting and decrypting all ePHI and tracking any activities linked to it to identify who has accessed it and when.
The administrative safeguards are intended to set you up for success in the long term to be HIPAA compliant. Ensuring that your workforce is aware of the information security policies and procedures is a great start. It is also essential to enforce security triggers and document your compliance efforts to ensure that there are never any gaps in coverage.
HIPAA Breach Notification Rule
This regulation specifies who you must tell in the event of a data breach. In brief, if PHI has been improperly shared or utilized, you must notify anybody who the data breach may impact. Individuals who are affected should be notified in writing, with a clear account of what information was used or exposed, how it’s being investigated, how they may protect themselves, and how to contact you if they have any concerns.
You must also notify the Secretary of Breaches, which may be done by filling out a form on the website. If the data breach impacted more than 500 persons, you must notify the Secretary within 60 days. However, if the number of persons affected is less than 500, you have to file until the end of the calendar year. If more than 500 persons are impacted, you must notify the local media through a press release within 60 days.
HIPAA Violations
It is important to note that a HIPAA violation does not have to have resulted in any actual harm to the patient. Quite a few HIPAA violations stem from clerical errors where the staff member did not make sure that patient billing information was kept private and secure. However, these violations can result in fines or even suspension of your participation in Medicare or Medicaid. Therefore, you must create policies and procedures to prepare for the inevitable situation when a HIPAA violation occurs.
Conclusion
Every healthcare organisation must comply with HIPAA regulations, primarily if sensitive patient data is handled. Some of the most egregious HIPAA violations result from clerical errors and can be avoided by educating your staff. You cannot ensure your organisation’s compliance as long as you create a proper plan and follow it diligently throughout your business relationship. To learn more about HIPAA-Compliance, check out our blog now.