All about HIPAA compliance

HIPAA compliance is a must for Covered Entities and their Business Associates. It is a sine qua non requirement from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a US federal department that is charged with the responsibility of enhancing and protecting the wellbeing and health of all Americans. It provides the means for bringing about effective health, as well as human services. Its mission is to engender improvements and developments in the fields of public health, medicine and social services.

The HHS requires complete compliance with its laws by a Covered Entity and its Business Associate. The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) considers Covered Entity as one that is involved in generating, storing, receiving or transmitting electronic Protected Health Information (PHI). A Business Associate is one that does all these on behalf of its affiliated CE. HIPAA compliance is mandatory because the nature of information that Business Associates carry with them –Protected Health Information –is of a highly confidential and sensitive nature. Not only that; when there is a breach of data on the part of the Business Associate or the Covered Entity, it results in huge costs by way of damages. Data breaches also carry a bigger penalty: They dent the reputation of the business, something no money can compensate.

Locating the source of data breach

Most of the patient information breaches take place at the Business Associate’s end. This makes compliance with HIPAA compliance rules by BA's all the more important. The basic reason for which most such breaches take place is the many misconceptions that abound among healthcare organizations about the nature of the HIPAA privacy and security regulations. What these regulations are, what they mean to healthcare organizations, and the steps that the healthcare organizations, Covered Entities and their Business Associates need to do –all these are areas of considerable confusion.

It is to equip professionals from the healthcare industry with the complete knowledge needed to understand and implement HIPAA compliance that GlobalCompliancePanel, a highly popular provider of professional trainings for all the areas of regulatory compliance, will be organizing a two-day seminar.

A complete roundup of HIPAA compliance

Senior healthcare professional Jim Wener, who brings four decades of experience in the industry and has been assisting providers and payers in identifying their automation requirements and helping them select and successfully implement the ideal automation for their needs, will the Director of this seminar. To gain the benefit of the vast experience that Jim brings and to ensure total HIPAA compliance for your organization; please register for this seminar by logging on to http://www.globalcompliancepanel.com/control/globalseminars/~product_id=900874?linkedin-SEO.

Questions, questions, questions

At this seminar, Jim will take the participants through HIPAA compliance from start to compliance. He will provide answers to all the questions that Business Associates and Covered Entities face during the process of ensuring HIPAA compliance. He will show what healthcare organizations need to do to secure their healthcare information.

Some of the questions that he will seek to answer include:

Do the HIPAA regulations apply to the organization? What risks does the organization face, and how does it mitigate these risks? What is it that the organization is required to do, and how is this done? Is there a role assigned for and expected of the organization's computer resources in assessing and managing HIPAA compliance risks? What is the level of safety that the healthcare organization’s computer and paper patient information carry? Is there a way by which the organization determines if its computer resources provide the needed features and functions for the organization to become compliant?

Diligence can lessen the severity of penalties

These are just some of the questions for which Jim will seek to provide answers. Framing these questions and answering them is a watertight means to developing and executing a compliant plan. This in turn is critical to ensure that the organization takes the right path in ensuring HIPAA compliance. A breach is a very bad thing to happen for an organization, but diligence that the organization has showed in protecting patient information will go a long way in mitigating penalties. This is one of the prime reasons for which attendance at this seminar is necessary.

o  What is HIPAA, who is covered and what is HIPAA Compliance

o  Why the healthcare organization should be concerned about HIPAA compliance

o  How to perform a HIPAA Risk Assessment

o  How to prepare HIPAA Policies and Procedures

o  How to perform HIPAA Training

o  What is IT's role in the healthcare organization's HIPAA Compliance

o  How to prepare a Business Continuation/Disaster Recovery Plan

o  How to handle a potential HIPAA Breach.

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