It was in 1996 that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed as a federal law and this is one of the most important legislations to affect the health care industry as a whole. Apart from securing the privacy and confidentiality of protected information of patients, HIPAA will also help in bringing down the administrative costs of covered entities.

There are certain organizations and individuals that are classified as covered entities and they would need to adhere to all the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is also the responsibility of these organizations to provide adequate training to their employees so that they can become compliant with the rules and regulations of the Act.

What Are Top 5 HIPAA Compliance Rules For Employers?

1. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act aims to protect the confidential information of patients and employers of covered entities will need to provide training to all their employees who will be accessing the medical records of patients. The training can be held in classrooms or employers can also use the online medium to provided training to their employees.

2. If an individual has a pre existing medical condition then employers will not be allowed to discriminate against them. All individuals and their families will need to be provided with continuous medical coverage even if they lose or change the jobs.

3. The employer is also responsible for sending a privacy policy notice to all participants of the health insurance plan. Amendments and changes that are made to the privacy rules will also need to be intimidated to individuals.

4. The employer should ensure that security and privacy rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are adhered to by employees. All electronic devices on which the confidential information of patients is stored will also need to be password protected.

5. The organizations (covered entities) will be able to prevent misuse and abuse of confidential information, if adequate safeguards are in place to protect them. Any files that are transmitted electronically will need to be encrypted and password protected.

Employers of covered entities will be able to avoid violations and the subsequent penalties, if all the rules and regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are followed in a diligent way. Most of these organizations have internal policies and procedures in place that will help comply with the various standards that are specified by HIPAA.

These covered entities will also have various safeguards in place so that any unauthorized access to the confidential information is prevented. There are several instances of misuse and abuse of the protected information for commercial purposes when individuals are able to gain unauthorized access to it.

The protected information of patients is not just stored electronically but it is also kept in physical form. Organizations will need to employ the same safeguards for protecting the physical records of patients. They would need to be kept in a safe and secure place. It would be best to keep them locked and access to them should be restricted.

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: HIPAA Compliance,Health Insurance