What you need to know to make your healthcare practice HIPAA compliant.
Healthcare organizations face an ever-increasing number of compliance regulations, and HIPAA is at the center of the discussion. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and it was designed to protect the privacy and security of patient health information.
HIPAA compliance is essential for any healthcare organization, as it sets the standards for how patient data is stored, transmitted, and accessed. HIPAA compliance also helps protect patient privacy, as it requires that healthcare providers and organizations take steps to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of protected health information (PHI).
This leads into The Privacy Rule, which requires healthcare providers and organizations to limit their use and disclosure of PHI to only those individuals who need access to it for legitimate purposes.
Unfortunately, healthcare is near the top of the list for most breached industries. Think of malicious or unintentional data loss, cybersecurity attacks, and compliance threats. Phishing is the most common type of cybercrime in healthcare, and a single data breach can cost medical facilities $10.1M on average.
The real kicker? Proper HIPAA compliance, from an IT angle, can mitigate these issues in most cases. For example, securing your healthcare facility’s data on a private cloud server minimizes PHI leaks. If you followed that path, you’d be one step closer to HIPAA compliance AND complete data protection.
Work with a qualified HIPAA compliance expert who dual-wields experience in healthcare and tech to know if your medical practice is compliant. They can provide an assessment of your current practices to ensure you are meeting the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. More importantly, they can help create a plan of action to ensure you remain compliant for years to come.
HIPAA Compliance Checklist
HIPAA compliance requires healthcare organizations to protect patient privacy and security in various ways. Use the following as a HIPAA compliance checklist to gauge if your healthcare practice is compliant.
- Establishing administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect PHI
- Implementing access controls to limit who can access PHI
- Conducting risk assessments to identify and address vulnerabilities
- Developing a comprehensive security plan
- Training employees on HIPAA compliance
- Establishing a system for monitoring and auditing access to PHI
- Developing and implementing policies and procedures to comply with HIPAA
- Responding to data breaches in a timely manner
- Notifying the appropriate authorities if a breach occurs
Don’t Get Fined. Get Compliant.
Healthcare organizations must be aware of the requirements set forth in the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, and they must make an honest effort to prove they are compliant. Failure to do so could result in fines, legal penalties, and other negative consequences.
If you’re wondering if your healthcare practice is up to speed on today’s HIPAA requirements, you may not be as compliant as you thought. With over 19 years of experience in tech and healthcare, ICS brings a full plate of knowledge to the table. We’ll look at your tech and systems, answer that question for you, and lay out a plan to get (and keep) your clinic compliant.
