An Easy Guide To Becoming HIPAA Compliant
Are you struggling to stay compliant with HIPAA regulations? You’re not alone. Staying HIPAA compliant can be a daunting task, but it’s important to remember that it’s worth the effort. In this blog post, we’ll provide some tips for staying on the right side of the law and keeping your business running smoothly.
The Rules of HIPPA
To be HIPAA compliant, you first need to understand what rules and regulations apply to you. The rules of HIPAA includes rules put into place by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), United States Department of Labour (DOL), State laws, rules set forth by employers, rules required by healthcare organisations, rules set forth by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), rules put into place by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and rules required by business associates.
The Five Rights Of HIPAA
HIPAA rules are enforced through five rights to protect patient privacy. They are:
– The Right To Access
– The Right To Amend
– The Right To An Accounting Of Disclosures
– The Right To Be Notified Of Breaches
– The Privacy Rule Rights Outlined By OCR
These rights ensure that patients control their medical records and how they are used. Most often, people think of HIPAA in relation to the use and storage of health information. It’s important to note that the HIPAA Privacy Rule also covers other protected health information (PHI) like an individual’s genetic data.
Security Standards
There are four security standards to ensure HIPAA compliance. They are:
1) Administrative Safeguards, which is the management of healthcare information
2) Physical Safeguards, protecting patient information in transit and at rest
3) Technical Safeguards, using safeguards to prevent unauthorised access or use of electronic protected health information (ePHI)
4) Standard Unique Identifier (SUID) and Its Purpose In HIPAA Requirements For Business Use
Annual HIPAA Audit Checklist
To make sure you are on the right track, do an annual audit of your business. This will help you stay compliant with current HIPAA standards and meet future changes in compliance requirements. A sample checklist for this process includes:
– Does your organisation have access lists to all of its patient records?
– Is the access list updated when dictating reports?
– Do you have a designated person to manage patient records, and will they be held accountable if anything happens to that information (i.e., lost laptop or stolen records)?
– How are your employees trained on HIPAA compliance procedures?
– What is considered an electronic violation, and how will it be handled?
– Who has access to the master patient list (MPL)?
– How are your medical records kept in storage, and what is the schedule for maintaining this information?
– Does your organisation use encryption on all mobile devices?
What Is A Business Associate Agreement (BAA)?
A business associate agreement is an important part of staying HIPAA compliant. A business associate agreement (BAA) is a contract with anyone that handles your protected health information (PHI). This includes, but is not limited to:
– Doctors
– Lawyers
– Insurance companies
– Health information exchanges
– Data processing companies
Keeping Your Business HIPAA Compliant And Staying One Step Ahead Of The Game
To stay compliant, you need to anticipate the changes that are coming down the road. This will help keep your business on top of HIPAA requirements and ahead of any changes coming to the game. There are a few best practices you need to follow to ensure that you are staying HIPAA compliant. Firstly, make sure you have a designated privacy officer. You also need to be proactive when it comes to what you are storing and how you are storing it. Finally, you need to have a plan in place to deal with breaches. For example, if someone were to steal patient information, you need to know how you would report that breach and handle it accordingly.
The goal of this article has been to provide you with an easy-to-follow overview and guide for staying HIPAA compliant. Whether your organisation is just starting out or you’ve been in the industry for years, we hope that these tips will help keep your business on top of any changes coming down the road. To stay ahead of compliance requirements, make sure to adopt best practices like having a designated privacy officer and creating a plan to deal with breaches such as theft.
If you’re looking for more information about how our team can help implement these principles, let us know! We are happy to answer any questions about HIPAA compliance programs and share what we have learned from experience working within healthcare organisations across various industries.
