The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) stipulate that all employees of health care providers are adequately trained in the various privacy and security rules pertaining to handling of protected information of patients.

The confidential information of patients could be their name, address, social security number, date of birth, insurance premiums and coverage and medical information (treatment processes too). Apart from this any other information that has been classified as protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act should not be shared with others either unintentionally or intentionally.

Top 7 Things To Know About HIPAA Employees Regulations

1. Employees of health care providers who electronically transmit confidential medical information of patients would need to be trained in the various provisions of HIPAA. This will ensure that they are compliant with the security and privacy rules of the act and there will be no violation.

2. The employees of these organizations usually come in direct contact with the patient and this enables them to have access to all medical information pertaining to the patient. The HIPAA rules prohibit the sharing of any information with others and there are various penalties that are imposed for violations.

3. Only employees who are specifically authorized to store and access information would be able to do so. This will help prevent any sort of misuse of this sensitive piece of information of patients.

4. There are numerous instances when the violations occur unintentionally and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act do not make a distinction between intentional and unintentional violations. Depending on the nature and extent of the violation there can be civil and criminal penalties imposed on the employees. In case of criminal penalties there can be imprisonment along with fines.

5. Employees who are authorized to access the protected information should do so after following all the adequate safeguards that have been stipulated by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This will help prevent any misuse.

6. As the information that is accessed is stored electronically it is advisable that is password protected and only individuals who are authorized to do so have access to these passwords. The employees can also use other safeguards like installing an anti-virus software and firewall that will help prevent easy access.

7. There are various penalties that are imposed for any violations (intentional and unintentional) and this can be both civil and criminal. The state laws governing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act would be varying and it is important to be aware of the various provisions of the act in relation to a particular state.

If the employees need to access the protected information for a specific purpose other than treatment they would be required to take a written or oral permission from the patient to do so. The authorization will end after the purpose for which the access was required is fulfilled.

Employees of covered entities as specified by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act should also be aware of any new changes that are been made to the act. This will help them avoid any sort of violation.

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 Regulations ,HIPAA act