HIPAA is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, enacted by Congress in 1996. The main purpose of this federal statute was to assist consumers in maintaining their insurance coverage, but it also includes a separate set of provisions designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system.
HIPAA provides the ability to transfer health insurance coverage when there is a change in employment status, minimizes health care fraud and abuse, sets in place industry-wide standards for electronic billing, and protects the confidentiality of protected health information.
All medical practices are required to maintain strict guidelines when it comes to managing patient healthcare information. Given the serious nature of noncompliance, it is essential that you provide the highest level of diligence when putting HIPAA procedures in place.
How Technology Has Changed HIPAA Compliance
While technology makes our lives easier in a lot of ways, it also creates new issues for HIPPA best practices, compliance and customer care.
Keeping patient information confidential is more complex when shared electronically across devices – but the compliance standards are as stringent as ever.
Here are some quick and easy ways that your organization can use technology to stay on the right side of HIPAA compliance.
1. Keep Texting Secure: In a hospital or critical care environment, being able to quickly communicate patient information is critical.
However, due to the many shortfalls of normal SMS services, these communications are generally forbidden when it comes to confidential information. Providers can instead provide a secure messaging application for their employees.
A secure messaging app allows the safe exchange of private information without compromising your data. Messages are encrypted before they leave your device, and many apps include a self-destruct functionality, letting you send messages that are automatically deleted after they’re read.
No messaging app is completely foolproof, but users with privacy concerns would be wise to check out the technology.
2. Store Information in the Cloud: In simple terms, the cloud refers to software and services that run on the Internet instead of your local computer. The cloud provides an off-site, virtual storage environment, which protects records from natural disasters or theft.
These days, patient records that were traditionally housed in filing cabinets are easily stored in the cloud, protected by passwords and out of each of prying eyes in your office. Utilizing cloud-based managed services offers a strategic level of protection for records covered by HIPAA compliance regulation.
3. Manage Those Passwords: Healthcare organizations are required by law to ensure their employees are following all necessary security protocols, including strong password utilization. Your organization may be at increased risk for HIPAA violations (no matter how unintended) if passwords are handled lightly or without stringent oversight. For example, sharing or passwords between employees may get you in trouble, as may using the same password for all users. A password manager application, which generates unique strong passwords for each user, may help to mitigate risk.
4. Keep Up the Training: Technology can be effectively utilized to maximize employee HIPAA awareness and education. Video training through Microsoft Stream (Office 365) is just one way to keep in touch with employees who work different shifts or in diverse locations. Making sure that everyone understands the HIPAA compliance goals and how they can meet them will go a long way to avoiding inadvertent violations.
As with every industry, technology has greatly increased the Sarasota medical community’s capabilities and efficiency. But with each new advancement comes some growing pains, in order to ensure that patient confidentiality is continually protected. If you have questions about any of the technologies discussed above or wish to discuss further ways that you can ensure HIPAA compliance through IT services, call Alliance IT.
