How Healthcare Providers Can Ensure They’re HIPAA Compliant

A recent increase in complex cyberattacks on various healthcare institutions means that healthcare providers need to step up their game when it comes to ensuring that they are HIPAA compliant. Protecting sensitive patient data, even in the event of a cyberattack, should be the top priority of any medical provider. The HIPAA Security Rule allows care providers to adopt new technologies in order to preserve the privacy of patient health information while raising the efficiency and quality of patient care. Here are some things that healthcare providers can do to ensure that they are fully HIPAA compliant.

Enforce Security Standards:

Today, automation is an essential component of data security and healthcare providers can apply it to patient privacy in order to better support HIPAA compliance. Automatic software can be used for a variety of security enforcement techniques including enforcing content security standards for data movement, app usage, network activity, and web access. The right monitoring software will immediately alert you if a potential threat is detected, allowing you to take fast action to prevent malicious activity or reduce the damage.

Strong and Clear Policies:

One of the main steps to ensuring a HIPAA compliant medical practice is to ensure clear, well-planned policies for employees to follow. Planning clear and concise policies and procedures will significantly reduce confusion and ensure that everybody is clear on what they need to do to promote and stick to HIPAA compliance. Understanding security risks to assets such as patient records and billing information are crucial to ensure that security is not breached even accidentally. It can be useful to have a designated HIPAA officer in the practice to assist with the planning of policies and enact necessary controls.

Regular Staff Training:

Simply having strong HIPAA compliance policies is not enough; it is important to ensure that all medical and administrative staff are fully trained to follow the policies and procedures regarding HIPAA. Since HIPAA is subject to constant change particularly as cybercriminals find new and inventive ways to access and steal sensitive patient data, it is important to ensure that each member of staff has access to regular refresher training in order to make sure that their knowledge is up to date. HIPAA training is not a one-and-done exercise; it should be ongoing and offered on a regular basis.

Outsourcing:

Outsourcing to companies that have stronger policies in place and more resources to ensure HIPAA compliance can be a wise idea. For example, medical insurance companies can outsource record retrieval to improve security and accuracy. Whatever you decide to outsource from your medical company or practice, it is important to do your due diligence on the companies that you choose to work with to ensure that they take HIPAA compliance as seriously as you do. A slip-up by the company that you outsource to could mean disastrous consequences for you both.

HIPAA compliance is even more crucial as cyberattacks on healthcare providers become more common. By ensuring that you have strong policies in place, train staff regularly, and enforce security measures, you can avoid a breach.