Best Practices to Avoid HIPAA Violations in a Medical Practice
Healthcareprovidersaswellasmedicaltranscriptionservicecompaniesmusthave properHIPAAmeasuresinplacetopreventpatientPHIdatabreaches.
It is important for healthcare providers to protect their patient’s individually identifiable information. This includes health information maintained in any form or medium that identifies, or could identify the person that the health information concerns, and is transmitted or maintained bycovered entities or healthcare providers. Medical transcription service companies also create, receive, maintain, or transmit PHI on behalf of covered entities. HIPAA regulations require maintaining specific standards for protecting, using, and disclosing patients’ medical information and records. According to a HIPAAJournalreport, the main causes ofhealthcare breaches in 2020 were identified as hacking/IT incidents, unauthorized access/disclosure, theft, improper disposal and data loss. It is important for everyhealthcare organization to have proper measures in place to prevent breaches.
Best practices that can help medical practices avoid HIPAA violations
Train employees on HIPAA standards
Make your employees aware of their personal responsibilities under HIPAA
HIPAA training offers robust guidance on –
● What constitutes a HIPAA violation
● How to handle sensitive patient data
● Password protection
● How to recognize and deal with threats
● Strategies to prevent potential breaches
Health IT outsourcing
Data breaches are rampant with patient information in electronic health records.
Outsourcing IT to a reliable HIPAA compliant service provider
● Provides a secure environment for telehealth and collaboration
● Helps prevents HIPAA violations, and
● Ensures IT support to keep data safe at all times
Robust security and privacy policies
Medical practices should implement comprehensive security and privacy policies.
● have specific measures to safeguard the integrity and privacy of medical data
Efficient access control and encryption
Technical security controls are essential to protect PHI and promote HIPAA compliance.
To prevent HIPAA violations -
● ensure that all PHI are sent and received via encrypted connection
● avoiding texting patient information via SMS, WhatsApp, or other messaging platforms
Written policies and procedures
HIPAA requires organizations to record everything related to PHI in their setting.
● Documentation should clearly list the roles and responsibilities of all staff involved
● Practices should perform periodic audits to assess HIPAA violation risks
Dedicated HIPAA security staff
Having a dedicated HIPAA specialist will ensure that all protocols are followed HIPAA experts are responsible for -
● carrying out risk assessments and audits
● creating and implementing security measures
● identifying risks of security breaches and
● developing measures to prevent mistakes
Medical transcription companies handle a huge amount of patient information and if breaches occurtheir impact canbedevastating. That’swhymedicalpracticesshouldoutsourcetheir medical transcriptiontasksonlyto HIPAAcompliant medicaltranscription companies. Suchcompanies will have all the necessary measures in place to prevent HIPAA violations.