What You Don’t Know About HIPAA Training, But Should – 3 Things

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standardized the protection of patient’s private health information and greatly encouraged the widespread use of electronic transmissions in the health care system. Virtually all healthcare professions and staff whocome in contact with patient records should be trained in HIPAA regulations, as not doing so can result in heavy fines, prison time, or even a revocation of medical licenses. This includes health care providers and trainees, people who use and create patient information for research, and patient information management. Training courses will teach you about what HIPAA law is, who have to follow HIPAA law, how HIPAA affects you and your work, why HIPAA is important, and where you can get additional help and advice related to HIPAA. Laws and regulations around HIPAA can be difficult to understand, so it is very important to stay updated to make sure that you are in compliance with HIPAA. Here are a couple of things that you might not know about HIPAA training, but you definitely should.
• The Department of Health (DOH) can use patient’s health care information without consent for the following reasons: for treatment, to obtain payment, or for departmental operations. Additionally, if the law requires certain information for public health activities, health oversight activities, and averting threats to health or safety, then the DOH can disclose information Public Health Issues 2019 In Usa without consent. These are just a few examples of the exemptions within the HIPAA framework, and therefore it is imperative to learn about where HIPAA laws apply and where they do not. HIPAA training will train you to not come in violation with HIPAA regulations by educating you to know exactly where and when the DOH can use patient’s information without consent.
• Patient’s information must be protected, and due to HIPAA standards all patient information falls under the category of Protected Health Information (PHI). You may already know that a patient’s PHI is usually created, kept, used or shared within doctor’s offices or health insurance agencies; however, an individual’s PHI must also be protected from spoken, written, or electronic methods of communication. Those who have access to an individual’s records must be in compliance with HIPAA standards, and therefore simply speaking about the individual’s PHI without consent may serve as a violation of the law. You can only speak about or request information about another’s PHI only if it is part of your job.
• Not all of the HIPAA training modules will be similar. Since not all companies who have access to an individual’s health records do the same thing, there are different HIPAA trainings that will directly relate to what the company does and how they use the health records. Courses will focus on how the individual employer uses PHI and what steps that employer has taken in order maintain compliance with HIPAA standards and minimize the risk that might come from ignorance and/or misusing PHI.
HIPAA laws and regulations are certainly not easy to follow, and to be an expert in this field requires years of research and possibly a law degree. Most companies will also have a HIPAA privacy officer on staff with them as well, as Cnbc Health Care News violations of HIPAA can bring $250,000 in fines and even up to 10 years in prison. Therefore, it is very important to be up-to-date on new HIPAA policies and ensure that you and your employees are strictly following these policies.