7 factors influencing the need to be HIPAA compliant

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Healthcare Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a well-known phrase in the healthcare business. The principle of this regulation is liked and despised by a significant proportion of the population. It was signed into law in 1996 with the primary goal of preserving health insurance, combating fraud, and monitoring access to patient data by all covered companies. HIPAA, which stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was created to accomplish this goal. Moreover, it strives to simplify healthcare processes while simultaneously lowering the overall cost of healthcare services.

What makes it vital to comply with HIPAA regulations?

The widespread use of digital gadgets

In the healthcare industry and other organizations, computerized activities such as electronic health records (EHR), computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems, radiography, pharmacy and laboratory systems are routinely used. Because of the use of all of these utilities, HIPAA compliance is now more crucial than ever.

Care management and self-service software can be made available through health insurance programs. The use of electronic technologies has boosted efficiency and portability, but it has also raised the likelihood of healthcare information being compromised by security issues.

Data access by covered entities is ensured by this policy.

As a result of the Security Rule of HIPAA, a patient is treated as a person, and his or her health information is secured in its entirety. Meanwhile, it assists covered organizations in introducing new technologies that can aid in the improvement of patient care while also increasing the efficiency of the delivery of care.

The Security Rule is designed to be flexible, allowing covered organizations to implement policies, processes, and technology that are appropriate for their size, internal structure, and the PHI of their patients.

Patient data is protected by physical and technological measures.

A limited access facility and an authorized access system are required by HIPAA regulations if an entity holds sensitive patient data. According to the regulations, the facility must be constructed and maintained, and an authorized access system must be put in place. It also has to develop regulations for the use of the workstations and electronic media that are responsible for storing the information. All electronic media that have access to such data will need to be restricted from being transferred, removed, disposed of, or re-used by the organization, as well as from being reused.

Additionally, the technological protections of HIPAA mandate that companies limit access to electronic patient health information, ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to it (ePHI). A unique ID, data encryption and decryption, automatic log-off, an access method for emergency situations, and log tracking to record activity on hardware and software are all examples of security measures to consider.

Internal data exchange inside the healthcare system that is protected

As data sharing has grown in popularity over the years, data security measures have evolved to keep up with the new threat. While complying with HIPAA standards, it is necessary to use extremely stringent security methods while sharing information.

Learning and comprehending HIPAA laws may assist healthcare systems in streamlining the supply of protected health information (PHI) on demand, which can aid in maintaining patient confidence. Improved visibility and management of sensitive data across the organization’s divisions can also be achieved as a result of this.

In order to comprehend the most recent fines and HIPAA infractions, A new comprehensive sketch has revealed a tiered system, with caps starting at $25,000 for Tier 1 violations and rising to $100,000 for Tier 3 violations. Hospitals must give frequent training to ensure that staff members are up to date on such information.

Improve the enforcement of the law and the eligibility of those who are held accountable for infractions.

The Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) has beefed up enforcement in response to an increase in the number of infractions that have occurred in recent years. Hospitals are required to implement this method in their enforcement, which includes scheduling training.

Development of a possible permanent audit program in the foreseeable future

HHS acknowledged the prospect of establishing a permanent audit program in the future when it announced “Phase 2” of the HIPAA audit program, which is currently in its pilot phase. As a result, new HIPAA laws and regulations will be implemented, and it will be required to get familiar with them.

Go HIPAA compliant with one application!

HIPAA Ready is here to help you to understand all ongoing and new rules of HIPAA by providing a simple platform for learning. This is a platform to start your HIPAA compliance training in a modern, affordable and effective way and to streamline your HIPAA compliance management process. It is a robust application that can provide a digital task checklist and information regarding meetings and training for HIPAA.

Your HIPAA compliance complexities will reduce significantly once you start training your employees with the help of this app. By managing HIPAA compliances, not only it reduces the complexity for you, but it also helps to monitor everything both onsite and offsite. 

It features the capability of adding, removing and removing new HIPAA policies and notifications for relevant individuals. It customizes the workflow across your organization and provides a checklist for every step. 

The best thing about HIPAA READY is that it will set a HIPAA compliance training schedule for you and assign tasks to each trainee, whenever required. It can provide trainees the necessary information on time and help you to finish training for each employee.

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