Who is Affected by HIPAA?

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is the most far reaching legislative act passed since ERISA. It directly affects:

Ø      healthcare providers

Ø      the health insurance business

Ø      the people healthcare practitioners do business with - business associates

Ø      employers who provide health care benefits – plan sponsors (if they have 50+ eligible employees or have a 3^rd party administrator of their plan)

Ø      businesses who do business with healthcare practitioners

HIPAA will require changes to how an involved office operates. While it's very likely that you already have some privacy and security measures in place, HIPAA requires that you document those policies and procedures. And it requires that your employees be trained in the HIPAA law and the policies & procedures of your office. 

There is a lot of significance to the language of HIPAA.  You can become informed about what is pertinent to you as a healthcare provider, business associate, or employer by clicking on those sections of this site.  However, there are a few pertinent terms and phrases that are significant to all.

Ø       PHI – private health information

Ø       Hipaa audit

Ø       Hipaa penalties

How easy is it to face a HIPAA audit? Real easy. ANYONE can turn a practice in. Ever had an unhappy employee leave, or experience the anger of a dissatisfied patient? One simple call or post card can bring any practice to the attention of the Health and Human Services' Office of Discrimination.

When the day comes and the question is asked, is your healthcare plan HIPAA compliant, can you say your firm did the best job possible? You can if you document it with our HIPAA manual. If you can't, or worse yet, made no effort to be compliant, the fines can be potentially immense.

In general, Hipaa health information privacy rules will require

Ø       staff training

Ø       documentation of training

Ø       an ongoing mechanism to provide training and documentation for new employees within a reasonable time.

Ø       safeguards for protecting health information

Ø       a manual describing these physical and informational security measures

This site:

Ø      is a tool

Ø      a step-by-step procedure for you to use to:

           determine who needs training

           determine what needs to go into your manual

           generate your manual

                     provide and track training.

Click here for additional information if you are a healthcare provider, doing business with a healthcare provider, or an employer offering benefits.