HIPAA Compliance Checklist: A 10-point checklist to make sure your Organisation achieves HIPAA Complaince! Before we get into the checklist, let us first see what exactly is HIPAA Compliance.
HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 which is a Federal Law that sets the rules for how health care providers, insurers, and administrators must handle Protected Health Information [PHI]. The HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security Rule are the most well-known regulations.
HIPAA applies to any person who transmits or receives Protected Health Information [PHI] electronically, in any form or media, including oral communication. HIPAA also applies to those who obtain PHI from another person or entity under certain conditions (covered entities).
HIPAA Compliance means that a person or Organisation is in compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security Rule. It means that they have taken the necessary steps to ensure their information systems are secure, and that they are only using their PHI for purposes specified by their business associate agreement.
HIPAA applies to all health care providers, including hospitals, doctors, pharmacies, and insurance companies. It also applies to all health care clearinghouses. HIPAA does not apply to businesses that do not provide health care services. A broad category of people/industry that needs to be compliant with the HIPAA Regulations are:
Here’s a 10-point checklist of important steps to take if you want your business to be HIPAA compliant.
The Privacy Rule and Security Rule are the main components of HIPAA. The Privacy Rule deals with how covered entities protect Personally Identifiable Health information [PHI]. The Security Rule addresses the safeguards healthcare providers must implement to safeguard PHI from unauthorised disclosure or use.
The Privacy Rule applies to a variety of healthcare providers, including doctors, hospitals, and health plans. It also applies to business associates of these entities. A business associate is any person or Organisation that performs services on behalf of covered entities such as data analysis and processing claims
A HIPAA Privacy Officer is a person who has been appointed by the Organisation to oversee and manage HIPAA compliance efforts. The Privacy Officer must be given access to all relevant information regarding your Organisation’s HIPAA compliance program.
Security management policies and standards are essential for managing the security of electronic protected health information. Security management policies should address issues such as user authentication, access control, data encryption, and system integrity.
The Security Rule requires that covered entities use appropriate administrative, technical and physical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information. The security standards include requirements for disaster recovery and business continuity plans; access controls; data encryption; passwords; firewall protection systems; maintenance of logs; policies on disposal of EPHI; incident reporting requirements; training of workforce members on security awareness issues (including a process for handling breaches); and other technical safeguards.
Create a risk assessment of PHI that you store, transmit or disclose: A risk assessment is a process used to determine if the current level of protection for PHI is adequate. This can be done through a variety of methods, including interviews with staff members and management as well as reviewing policies and procedures related to the storage and transmission of health data.
Make sure everyone at your company understands what HIPAA compliance means before they start working there. People who are new in their roles should be trained properly so they know exactly what information needs to be protected at all times (and how). This includes educating medical professionals about patient privacy laws in addition to other workers like receptionists and janitors who might handle sensitive data every day without knowing it!
The best way to ensure that your Organisation stays compliant with HIPAA is by learning from other people’s mistakes. If you hear about a breach or privacy violation, make sure to investigate how it happened so you can prevent similar incidents from happening at your company!
As your company grows and changes, you will likely find that some of your policies need to be updated. This can include a lot of different things, like adding new employees or changing the way your facility is organised. It’s important to make sure that everyone on staff knows about any changes so they can keep themselves compliant with HIPAA!
HIPAA regulations change a lot, and it’s important to stay up-to-date on all the changes. You can do this by keeping an eye out for updates on the HHS website or by following them on social media sites like Twitter and YouTube. The more you know about how HIPAA applies to your Organisation, the better able you are to keep yourself compliant!
The HIPAA Privacy Rule is a federal law that protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information and it applies to all forms of health care, including hospitals, doctors, dentists, mental health providers, and health insurance companies. The Privacy Rule gives patients rights over their own medical records and restricts others’ access to them.
In addition to protecting patient privacy, the HIPAA Security Rule sets national standards for how healthcare Organisations must safeguard electronic Protected Health Information [ePHI].
HIPAA helps patients’ privacy and records by:
HIPAA Security Rule is a set of federal standards for protecting electronic health information. HIPAA Security Rule applies to all HIPAA-covered entities and their business associates, which are required to abide by the security rule when they handle or store Protected Health Information [PHI].
The rule contains specific requirements for protecting information that is transmitted, received or stored in any form or medium. It also requires covered entities to have a set of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that are required to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information [ePHI] in order to prevent its loss or misuse as well as unauthorised access, disclosure, modification or destruction.
As part of administering its HIPAA compliance program, a covered entity must:
In a nutshell, the Breach Notification Rule requires covered entities to notify individuals of certain breaches involving their Protected Health Information [PHI]. The rule does not require notification for all breaches or for every unauthorised use or disclosure of PHI; rather, it requires that covered entities and business associates take steps to:
Organisations are not required to send breach notifications in cases where:
The HIPAA Omnibus Rule was introduced in 2013 to update the privacy and security provisions of HIPAA. The Omnibus Rule introduced the concept of a “business associate” to HIPAA. Business associates were defined as individuals or Organisations who handled PHI on behalf of covered entities, such as health care providers and their employees. Business associates are directly responsible for maintaining the privacy and security of PHI under HIPAA and must enter into agreements with covered entities that specify what access they have to PHI. The rule also clarified that notification may be delayed if law enforcement is investigating whether there has been any type of criminal activity involving the breach.
The Omnibus Rule is a compilation of updates that apply to a broad range of healthcare operations, including:
Neumetric, a cyber security product and services company, can help your Organisation become HIPAA Compliant by helping you meet all of the new regulations. We will walk you through each step and make sure that your information security program is up-to-date with the latest technology, policies and procedures by providing a HIPAA Security Risk Assessment and Cyber Security Audit.
Our team of experts will perform an in-depth assessment of your Organisation’s security measures and create a plan to help you become compliant with the rule. Neumetric can help your Organisation identify any gaps in security that may put protected health information at risk. For more details on our HIPAA Compliance Program, visit our HIPAA Compliance Service page by clicking here.
HIPAA compliance is a must-have for any healthcare business, as the law mandates that companies that handle patient information must abide by certain rules.
This checklist will help you understand what HIPAA compliance is and how to implement it. HIPAA compliance can be a difficult task for your Organisation, but it is not impossible to achieve. By understanding the rules and regulations of HIPAA, you can make sure that you are complying with all relevant laws. Neumetric can be your partner to make sure that you become HIPAA Compliant and remain in compliance.
HIPAA compliance is not a one-step process. It is a series of steps that can be broken down into different categories. You will need to implement a Security Management Program, which involves:
The most common violations include:
The HIPAA Security Rule establishes four standards for protecting PHI:
In order to be compliant with HIPAA, healthcare providers must meet the following conditions:
The ten-point checklist to obtain HIPAA Compliance is mentioned above. In summary:
The truth is, you can’t be sure without doing an audit. It’s a good idea to have your paperwork reviewed by a HIPAA compliance attorney before filing it with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). If you don’t have access to an attorney who specialises in this area and can review your paperwork for free or at a reduced rate. One of the best ways to ensure that your documentation is sufficient is to ask for feedback from someone who has been through the process already.
If you don’t pass the HIPAA audit, then you will be required to take corrective actions. This could include updating your policies and procedures or even changing the way that you operate. The bottom line is that if you don’t pass the audit, then your business could be at risk of fines or being shut down completely.
The most important aspect of a HIPAA audit is that it ensures that your business is compliant with the HIPAA Security Rule. This means that you will need to make sure that all of your policies and procedures are up-to-date, as well as implement new ones if needed. It’s also important to make sure that everyone who needs access to patient information has been properly trained on how to handle this data responsibly.