One of the primary objectives of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is to prevent abuse and misuse of confidential information of patients. HIPAA has many rules and regulations that need to be enforced for safeguarding this protected information. All organizations that have been classified as covered entities will need to take all measures to safeguard the electronic information of patients that they store, access and transmit.

The most common patient information details that are captured electronically and in the physical form include name, address, date of birth, social security number, details of past illnesses and medications taken. All these details will help in identifying easily and this would be against the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that want to protect such information.

5 Ways To Protect Patient Information In HIPAA

1. Access to all the confidential patient information should be restricted. The organizations should maintain a log that will capture all details regarding permission of access to protected information. This can also include details about why the access was sought and how many times the record has been accessed by authorized individuals.

2. All the medical records of patients will need to be password protected if they are stored electronically. If they are stored in physical form they would need to be kept in secure areas that cannot be easily accessed. If they are kept in cupboards they would need to be locked and the keys should be kept safely to prevent any unauthorized access.

3. If any patient information is required to be transmitted electronically, it will need to be password protected and encrypted. This will ensure that no one will be able to read it even if they had managed to get access to it. The information will need to be decrypted before it can be read by the authorized individuals.

4. All computers that are used to store and transmit information would also need to be password protected so that any kind of unauthorized access is prevented. If different employees are accessing the patient information they will need to be provided with separate passwords. The password should not be stored in any place to help prevent misuse.

5. All employees of covered entities who will be accessing the protected information of patients will need to be trained in the rules and regulations of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

There should be physical, technical and administrative safeguards that need to be put into place by the covered entities for protecting all confidential information of patients. There should be contingency plans for safeguarding all the information that is transmitted electronically.

Workstation use will also be restricted to help prevent any unauthorized access. Individuals who will be accessing the protected information of patients should be made aware about the workstation security procedures that need to be put into place.

Although the HIPAA security standards do not specify the technological requirements that need to be fulfilled for protecting the confidential information of patients the covered entities will need to put all safeguards in place to ensure its security.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Certification website.

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

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

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