Understanding HIPAA Law

The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is an act of compliance rules designed to make medical insurance more manageable for workers, ensure people with pre-existing conditions have access to medical insurance and insulate the privacy of identifiable patient health records.

Enacted in 1996, its provisions are enforced by the Federal government's Office of Civil Rights. The HIPAA Act has an effect on every patient, medical professional and caregiver.

One important impact of the HIPAA Act is the Privacy Rule. This rule protects the confidentiality of the health information of every consumer. The Security Rule also sets specifications specially designed to address the area of the security of electronic health information. It certifies what should and shouldn't be done and whom is allowed to access patient transcripts in any form. The act also created a system to analyze issues related to patient safety events. It helps workers and patients be confident all medical records are properly protected.

All medical providers handling or sending patient information and all companies that pay for the all or part of a patient's care must adhere to the HIPAA Act by federal regulation. The safeguards take time to put in place and some events where patient records are exposed may still occur. Those will be addressed and corrected. Once the safeguards are in place they are easy to follow and they ensure patient records are secure and health care workers aren't at fault should a patient's medical information somehow leak out.

The ramifications for non-compliance or violating HIPAA rules are severe. They include fines, lawsuits, and in some particularly egregious cases, incarceration. The goal is to set a clear policy regarding working with a patient's health information in a medical office. The Office of Health and Human Services and the Office of Civil Rights will perform a series of audits designed to help healthcare professionals understand what standards are required and identify areas where the individual or facility needs to improve. This information will be used to create a report and policy changes related to better HIPAA conformity.

Patients have a right to know who accesses their medical portfolio. Signing a HIPAA permission form allows medical personnel to share your records as needed. You retain the right to know with whom it was shared. Medical staff signs an agreement acknowledging their knowledge of HIPAA and pledge to uphold it under penalty of law.

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HIPAA Training

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HIPAA stands for ‘Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’.

This law which was passed in 1996 regulates the disclosure and use of protected health information in the healthcare and insurance industries. This information is anything which relates to a person’s health past, present and future.

Those working in the healthcare industry must be  HIPAA trained in order to comply with HIPAA regulations. The training will address the policies and procedures which protect health information.

After the training employees should be able to: learn to recognize Protected Health Information when they see it, understand when it is appropriate to request and/or disclose Protected Health Information, understand the requirements of HIPAA when they do request and/or disclose Protected Health Information, understand how to eliminate Protected Health Information from processes if it is not needed, and understand how to appropriately de-identify Protected Health Information before using or disclosing it, where feasible, and understand the appropriate actions to take in the event of a breach in security or privacy of the Protected Health Information.

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631.403.6687

Is your practice HIPAA Compliant?

TLD Systems is made up of Medical, Law and Technology professionals whose job is to keep your practice or business HIPAA compliant.  TLD Systems allows your staff to give all of their attention to your patients and customers.

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