The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) stipulate various safeguards that help protect the confidential medical information of patients. HIPAA was passed as a federal law in 1996 and in order to ensure protection against misuse of patient information employees of “covered entities” need to be trained in the policies and procedures of the act.

It is the duty of the employer to provide adequate training to its employees who will have access to this protected information. Covered entities include hospitals, clinics, laboratories, pharmacies, doctors, nurses, insurance companies and others as specified by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. People who are employed in these organizations will usually have access to the protected information of patients and will need to be trained on how to handle and store this sensitive information in an efficient way.

What Are The Top 6 HIPAA Training Procedures?

1. There are various health care organizations that store, transmit and safeguard the confidential information of patients. Employees who work in these organizations will need to be provided training on how to minimize the misuse of protected information for commercial or other purposes. Any organization that directly or indirectly handles this information would need to train its employees about the various provisions of HIPAA.

2. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act has various policies and procedures to ensure the safety of this protected information. The employees must also be trained about the various violations that take place. In addition to this they should also become aware of the penalties that will be imposed for non compliance.

3. There are various HIPAA amendments and developments that take place regularly and it is the duty of the employer to provide this information to employees through the use of newsletters and any other medium that is available. Employers can circulate this information among employees so that they can have updated information about HIPAA.

4. As all the protected information of patients is stored in computers, it is important that all the electronic systems are password protected. This will ensure that there is no unauthorized access to this protected information. There should also be firewall and virus protection to block any type of access that is not authorized. The training should also cover this aspect.

5. The training can also be done to identify the various controls that are in place by employers to safeguard the confidential information of patients. The employer can offer various educational courses that are of short durations to its employees. There can be tests after the courses are completed and this will help employees get a certification.

6. Employees who are not proficient in computers will need to be trained about storing and processing protected information of customers using electronic equipments. They can also be trained in the additional security measures that need to be in place.

When employees are trained properly in the various rules and regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, it will ensure that there is better compliance. The training procedures can be different for various employees depending on their specific responsibilities.

For more information, please visit our HIPAA Training website.

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

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

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