HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a law that protects the confidentiality of health insurance users.
The HIPAA security regulations require all institutions such as hospitals, billing services, insurance plans, and medical personnel to strictly comply with laws governing the secure transmission and storage of confidential health information for patients. You can find an online course for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in The eXchange Academy Store.
To be HIPAA compliant, several steps must be taken, which are categorized below:
Create physical Safeguards:
Computer networks play an important role in the processing, storage, and exchange of patient records between different healthcare organizations. Manage physical access to critical information securely using the following steps:
Create and enforce policies that allow only limited and trusted people to access sensitive patient health information.
Installation of workstations and computers in a secure area of the facility and must be accessible to authorized personnel.
Devices such as computers, fax machines, printers, and photocopiers must be arranged so that unauthorized persons cannot view patient health data.
All computer programs must be protected with a password and user ID to prevent unauthorized access.
Train personnel to comply with HIPAA safety:
Well-trained employees are the backbone of a successful organization. Hospitals need to raise awareness of the importance of handling patient health information safely. Organizations must:
Provide employees with access to HIPAA-compliant training and seminars to broaden their knowledge of HIPAA standards.
Password management and virus protection training.
In the event of a natural or man-made disaster, provide training on how to manage backup systems according to contingency plans to protect health data and keep critical operations running.