The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) helps protect the confidential information of patients. Apart from this HIPAA also helps individuals and their families get medical or health coverage when they are changing jobs or after they had quit their jobs. The provision of continuous health coverage is really helpful to individuals who are facing a medical emergency as it will help them cover the cost of treatment easily even if they are not working.

All organizations that are classified as covered agencies will need to comply with the various rules and regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The employees of such organizations will need to be trained about the various provisions of HIPAA to help avoid violations.

How To Make Covered Entities HIPAA Compliant In 5 Simple Steps

1. The confidential information of patients will need to be safeguarded and protected so that any unauthorized access is prevented.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act has stipulated various guidelines on how this information needs to be stored, accessed and transmitted electronically. There should be various physical, technical and administrative safeguards that need to be put into place for compliance with HIPAA.

2. The protected information of patients will need to be secured with a strong password. It is also important that this password is changed periodically. Most organizations have specific policies in place with regard to passwords and this should be adhered to while changing passwords.

3. Only employees who are authorized to access the medical records should be provided with the passwords. This will help in preventing any kind of unauthorized access. It is also advisable to keep the passwords safe and secure. The computer workstations where the confidential information is accessed and stored should also be password protected. If the employee is not at the desk it would be best to lock or shut it down to help prevent misuse.

4. Organizations will need to do a risk assessment to ensure that all provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are complied with. If there is any violation of HIPAA, it is important that remedial steps are taken to correct it. There is usually a time limit of 30 days within which this violations need to be corrected and this can also be extended if necessary.

5. The employees of covered entities will need to be properly trained in the various rules and regulations of HIPAA so that they can avoid any sort of violation. There are regular amendments and changes that take place in Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the employer will need to keep the employees updated on such changes.

There are very stringent penalties if the various provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are not followed properly by the covered entities. The penalties can include fines and imprisonment depending on whether the violation is civil or criminal. Organizations will be able to avoid intentional and unintentional violations if they provide adequate training to their employees. This will help them in becoming HIPAA compliant.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Certificate website.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Certificate website http://www.hipaaexams.com/hipaa-certificate.html

Author Bio: For more information, please visit our HIPAA Certificate website.

Category: Medical Business
Keywords: covered entities ,X rays,Types Of Patient ,Health Insurance ,medical records ,HIPAA Protects