The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed as a federal law in 1996 and it was basically to facilitate protection of confidential information of patients. It will greatly help reduce the administrative costs in the health care industry. The HIPAA rules will need to be strictly adhered to by all employers who provide group insurance to their employees.

Organizations that are part of the health care industry will need to first ascertain whether they are part of the covered entities that have been specified by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. If an organization is part of the covered entities that have been specified by HIPAA they would need to provide adequate training to all employees who will be handling the protected information of patients.

Top 4 HIPAA Compliance Rules For Employers

1. All employees who will be accessing the protected information of patients will need to be trained so that any misuse of information is prevented. There should be an ongoing training program for employees that will help them stay up to date with the various rules and procedures of HIPAA.

2. The employers are not permitted to discriminate against any employee if they have a pre existing medical condition. As per the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act all employees and their family members will be entitled to health insurance as assured by the employer.

3. A privacy policy notice should be issued to all participants of the health insurance plan. If any changes are made to the policies and procedures a separate notification in this regard should also be sent so that everyone is aware of the changes.

4. The protected information of patients would need to be safeguarded as per the security rules of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Access should be restricted only to authorized people and all computers and other storage devices should be password protected to help prevent any unauthorized access.

When all the rule and procedures of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act would be strictly adhered to it will help prevent frauds and abuse of protected information in the health care industry. As all the information is processed and stored electronically it will help improve the efficiency of storing these records.

If a covered entity wants to be HIPAA compliant and avoid any sort of penalties it would need to follow all the standards and regulations that have been specified by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

All the health care providers that have been specified as covered entities would need to have internal controls and policies that will help keep a check on any violation. It is important that the policies and procedures are checked at regular intervals. This will help keep track of any new policies and procedures that are been implemented and employees can be trained adequately in all these new policies and procedures. The primary goal of the employer should be to help prevent any misuse of protected information and provide health insurance of all employees who are covered by the group health insurance.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA website.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA website http://www.hipaaexams.com

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

Category: Medical Business
Keywords: HIPAA rules ,Health Insurance ,HIPAA Compliance