What is HIPAA Compliance?
HIPAA compliance refers to healthcare organizations’ behaviors according to HIPAA provisions to secure protected health information privacy, integrity, and security. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, HIPAA, consists of protected health information (PHI) use, sharing, and storing standards. HIPAA regulates how healthcare providers use health information lawfully. On the other hand, it gives place to costly fines in noncompliance situations. The US Department of Health and Human Services legislated a privacy rule to show how to implement HIPAA provisions.
What is protected health information (PHI)?
Protected health information refers to the data of patients. This type of data defines the patient or makes the patient definable. Any information can be personal health information according to context. Imagine a patient who applies to the hospital. He gives his identity information at first. Name, surname, date of birth, and ID number.
When a doctor tries to diagnose a patient, ask for further information and record them. Disease history, chronic diseases, drugs used, and current complaints are protected health information. Healthcare organizations and people there should ask for this information to do their jobs.
However, the hospital and the doctor has a non-disclosure liability under the HIPAA provisions. Patient information is vulnerable. Data processing in healthcare activities aims to give healthcare service to the patient. Healthcare providers collect, store, share, and destroy health information when necessary. All these activities should follow some standards to protect health information. HIPAA presents an extensive guide to processing medical data lawfully.
e-PHI explained
e-PHI is abbreviated for electronically protected health information. It refers to a digital form of data processing. Today, many healthcare organizations store patients’ data in digital environments because digital environments are convenient and practical. E-PHI is an archiving way for modern healthcare providers. HIPAA covers e-PHI too. Organizations that use and share vulnerable health information electronically should keep themselves compliant with HIPAA.
Privacy Rule of HIPAA
Privacy Rule regulates some tools, methods, and provisions regarding health information security. It gives some ideas to healthcare organizations about how to process vulnerable patient data and how to provide a secure environment when dealing with health information.
There should be physical safeguards in an organization to comply with HIPAA rules. Structures in a healthcare entity need extensive protection. Devices, files, desks, and stores both physical and digital ones should follow the fundamental standards of privacy rules. Security technologies are beneficial to comply with privacy rules. Access restrictions are also useful to provide physical security.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act refers to administrative safeguards. In the HIPAA context, administrative safeguards consist of procedures and policies regarding health information security. HIPAA explains what healthcare providers do to safeguard PHI. While physical safeguards are more practical, administrative safeguards are the theoric way of HIPAA compliance.
HIPAA compliance requires technical safeguards too. As the name refers, they are software, hardware, and other security tools to implement encryption, protection, and compliance.
Breach Notification Rule
HIPAA compliance requires following breach notification rules too. In case of data breaches in healthcare entities, they should implement some rules. These implementations and procedures refer to breach notification rules. Although HIPAA has provisions to avoid data breaches, it is impossible to prevent data breaches from healthcare entities totally. This is why HIPAA also regulates after-breach procedures and rules. The purpose is to prevent threats from spreading and minimize damage.
Entities should report the event of data breaches immediately. There are several reporting protocols in case of data breaches. Organizations should follow these procedures while reporting their data breach events.
- Firstly, the organization should notify the person whose information is damaged. HIPAA also regulates data subject (patient) rights. A data subject is a real person whose data is processed. The data subject has several rights at every step of data processing. He can claim explanations, ask for protection methods, and demand his data be destroyed. The person also has a right to be noticed when a data breach occurs according to HIPAA breach notification rules.
- Healthcare entities should disclose this breach to the public. There is a time limit for public disclosure on mass media. Entities should announce breach incidents within 60 days.
- On the other hand, it is crucial to detect how many people have been affected by this breach incident. If more than 500 people are affected, entities should notify the Secretary of Health in 60 days too. Secretary notification liability is pursued even if less than 500 people were affected by the breach. However, entities can inform Secretary without 60 days limitation, they make notifications till the end of the year.
How to be HIPAA Compliant?
Healthcare entities and enterprises that use, store, or share health information should comply with HIPAA rules. Being HIPAA compliant increases the organization’s reputation and client reliability. HIPAA makes entities secure places to process vulnerable health information. On the other hand, organizations legally obliged to comply with HIPAA can face costly fines due to noncompliance because HIPAA has penalty provisions regarding noncompliance events. Entities should have HIPAA compliance checklists to avoid HIPAA rules infringements and costly fines.
- Healthcare providers and entities should have procedures compatible with HIPAA rules. Written policies and procedures are crucial to provide HIPAA compliance in organizations.
- Potential threats and risks should be identified. Organizations must have an idea about the potential risks to fight against them properly. They can consider their size, employee number, patient intensity, and other elements that can affect threat potentials. Then, they can create proper precautions according to HIPAA security and privacy rules.
- Physical, technical, and administrative safeguards are also vital. The privacy rule of HIPAA is important to be compliant. On the other hand, organizations make documentation to demonstrate their precautions and implementation when necessary. Procedures, rules, protocols, inventories, and other components should be taken place on documents to increase accountability. HIPAA recommend entities level up their accountabilities to avoid fines.
- An organization that has a liability on HIPAA compliance should conduct employee training. Healthcare staff should have adequate information regarding HIPAA and compliance methods. Furthermore, proper monitoring and auditing sessions should be conducted by entities too.
In Conclusion
HIPAA is a binding act for entities and organizations that process health data. Health information is vulnerable data and requires further protection. HIPAA regulates patient rights, PHI security, privacy precautions, consequences of noncompliance, and compliance checklist recommendations. HIPAA compliance is vital in two ways. First, being HIPAA compliant makes patients feel relaxed. Furthermore, compliance has a positive effect on health institutions’ reputations. On the other hand, HIPAA regulates costly fines and organizations should be compliant to avoid these costly fines. These penalties can have a destructive effect on small and medium-sized organizations.
