Health care providers would need to follow guidelines that have been stipulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Patient health information that is protected would need to be accessed and stored by authorized and trained individuals only. It would be advisable to have a checklist that will ensure that all the guidelines of HIPAA are complied with.

Individuals and organizations that are classified as covered entities as per HIPAA would need to have various processes and safeguards in place to ensure that the protected information of patients is safe.

Top 6 HIPAA Guidelines That Need To Be Followed

1. Organizations that will have access to confidential information of patients will need to have a process in place that will ensure that they are HIPAA compliant. Most organizations appoint a compliance officer who will incorporate the necessary changes that will be needed to store and safeguard the protected information.

2. Employees who would be handling the sensitive medical information of patients would need to be aware of the privacy and security rules of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. There can be an ongoing training program process implemented in the organization so that the employees are aware of any new changes that take place in HIPAA. There are various online training programs that can be used for this purpose.

3. Apart from this employees must also be aware of the penalties that are imposed for non compliance of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. There can be civil and criminal penalties imposed on the employees and the organization depending on the nature and extent of the violation.

4. The most basic guidelines of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act specify that access to the patients records can only be authorized by the patients or anyone else approved by them. Authorizations can be given for a specific purpose and on fulfillment of that purpose, it will expire. If the employees need to access the protected information again they would need a fresh authorization from the patient.

5. Any individual who will be gathering, storing and destroying records of patients would need to be aware of the various provisions of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act so that all proper safeguards are followed and there is no misuse of this confidential information.

6. As the protected information would be stored electronically, it is important that there are enough security measures like password protection and firewalls to stop unauthorized access. There are various mediums through which the information can be stored and accessed and electronic safeguards will ensure that the health information is handled in a safe way.

The compliance officer must also identify areas of risk and this will help to have counter measures in place. There can also be audits conducted at regular intervals and this will ensure that all the provisions of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are followed. The audit can be done internally by the health care providers and this will help them check all the processes that are in place for HIPAA compliance.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Privacy Rule website.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Privacy Rule website http://www.hipaaprivacyrule.com

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

Category: Medical Business
Keywords: health care organizations ,HIPAA,Health Insurance ,HIPAA Compliant,HIPAA Penalties ,HIPAA act