Healthcare organizations like hospitals, clinics, laboratories, pharmacists, and so on deal with private patient information on a regular basis. The employees of these facilities are involved in the access, use, maintenance, and exchange of such information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enforced to prevent the misuse of this private information. Therefore, all healthcare employees who deal with patient information are required to undergo training, take the HIPAA exams and obtain a certification. The healthcare providers are responsible to proper adequate training to all their employees according to their job requirements.

It’s not only the doctors and nurses who will need to comply with the rules and regulations of the act, but also employees working in laboratories, human resource agencies, medical insurance agencies, medical transcriptions agencies, and so on. Therefore, a getting a HIPAA certification is useful and it results in better compliance and lesser violations.

This article talks about why it is essential for healthcare employees to undertake HIPAA exams and get a certificate. Here are five points.

– The topics covered in the training are regarding HIPAA security and privacy rules, rules and regulations of HIPAA, penalties to non-compliance, authorization, policies for electronic storage and transfer of patient information, to name a few.

– These days there are hardly any paper records. All patient information is stored, processed, and transferred electronically. Therefore, several safeguards need to be employed to avoid misuse. HIPAA training will train the employees about the various safeguards and transaction and code sets that need to be followed when sharing confidential health information of patients.

– After you complete your training, you will be given an exam to check if you have really understood all the provisions of the act. Only on successfully passing this exam you will be given your certificate. Getting a HIPAA certification is very beneficial as will be able to do your job better and be safe from violations and penalties.

– HIPAA training is an ongoing process. The HIPAA policies and rules and regularly reviewed and amended and hence employees need to be up to date with these new changes. In view of these, a refresher course is made available for those employees who already have been certified. This will help then know the most recent changes and continue to comply with them.

– HIPAA often organizes inspections in the healthcare organizations so ensure compliance. To avoid complications, it is beneficial to have certified employees because there will be no issues with compliance then.

The law does not make it compulsory for healthcare employees to have a formal HIPAA certification. However, it is always advisable to be prepared in advance than be sorry later. Certification will ensure that you can handle your work responsibilities in an adequate manner. You will understand the importance of protecting the privacy of patient information and strive to maintain it. Your employer will value you and the patients will trust you as they know you are competent to handle their private information.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Exams website.

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

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Category: Medical Business
Keywords: HIPAA Exams