HIPAA, also known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is a federal law that was enacted in 1996. It aims to protect the privacy and security of an individual’s personal health information. HIPAA applies to all healthcare providers, including hospitals, doctors, dentists, insurance companies, and business associates who may have access to personal health information. Under HIPAA, individuals have the right to access, correct, and control their health information, and healthcare providers are required to safeguard this information from unauthorized use or disclosure. Here are some reasons why businesses must remain compliant with HIPAA.
1. To Protect the Privacy and Confidentiality of Patient Health Information
HIPAA mandates the use of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect the confidentiality of an individual’s health information. Businesses with access to or that store this data must implement these safety measures and are prohibited from sharing confidential health information with anyone other than individuals involved in the patient’s care.
2. To Prevent Unauthorized Access to Patient Data
Under HIPAA, your business must protect patient data against any possible threats. For example, gathering and storing a person’s electronic health records (EHRs) must be encrypted and backed up regularly and tested annually to ensure their integrity. You may also be required to place additional measures, such as ID and password protections, for any secured area or files on the premises. HIPAA compliant hosting services may also be necessary to ensure that patient data remains protected.
3. To Prevent Data Breaches
Under HIPAA, your business is also prohibited from sending patient health information in an unsecured manner. Any electronic transmission must be encrypted and protected using ID and password authentication. For example, if your business sends an unencrypted email with personal health information or doesn’t have a proper firewall installed on its internal network, it violates HIPAA regulations.
4. To Maintain Trust With Patients
HIPAA guarantees the rights of individuals to privacy and confidentiality when dealing with their health information. Businesses that violate the law by sharing or losing patients’ private health records may be subject to large fines and be sued by patients. In addition, HIPAA standards may positively affect your business in terms of patient trust. Patients who experience data breaches change their health providers or become more cautious about providing sensitive health information to their healthcare providers.
5. To Avoid Legal Consequences
If you release a person’s private health information to the wrong person, you may open yourself up to legal difficulties. HIPAA information security regulations are designed to prevent such situations by requiring that all individuals who have access to personal health data must be adequately trained and vetted and adhere to strict security policies and procedures. Violating HIPAA regulations is a serious offense that can land your entire medical staff or business in serious legal jeopardy.
6. To Ensure Fair Treatment of Patients
American citizens’ right to privacy and confidentiality is not absolute. HIPAA ensures that patients receive timely, accurate, and complete healthcare information. Individuals are empowered to submit complaints to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) alleging that their healthcare information has been compromised or mishandled by a business, which may cause the case to go to court.
7. To Maintain the Integrity of Patient Data
Under HIPAA, your business must maintain a list of all employees who have access to patient data so that you can make sure they are following all security policies. Also, the hacker may access your patient’s personal health information if your business computer is hacked. To prevent such a situation and to protect patient privacy and confidentiality under HIPAA regulations, you should only give information access to people you trust. The good thing with modern technologies, we can now send the secured personal data of our clients to concerned parties through Secure HIPAA faxing. With this, there’s no need to send through conventional faxing with paper; instead, encrypted document data is sent to protect customer confidentiality.
8. To Protect Against Cyber Attacks
As an organization that stores personal health information, your business is one of the ideal targets for hackers. You may be subject to cyber attacks if you don’t have a sufficient firewall installed and ID authentication for online access. In addition, if your business does not have proper encryption measures for electronic patient data transfer, it may be subject to cyber attacks from unscrupulous third-party groups or individuals who want access to healthcare data directly.
Bottom Line
HIPAA is designed to protect the privacy and security of an individual’s personal health information from unauthorized use or disclosure. Businesses that violate this law by releasing a person’s private health records are subject to large fines and being sued by the patient. In addition, HIPAA standards may positively affect your business in terms of patient trust.