The First Steps to Becoming HIPAA Compliant
When we schedule an appointment to go over HIPAA compliance with a new client, we are always asked, “Where do I even start?” by the owner or practice manager. Becoming HIPAA compliant is a complex proposition that takes time, knowledge, and persistence. There are many steps involved, but the first steps are always the same: […]
HIPAA Incident Response and Reporting
Healthcare organizations must take extra special care of protected health information (PHI). And part of the HIPAA security rule is a group of rules regarding how to respond to a security incident and how to go about reporting that incident depending on the severity. Make sure your organization understands the following policies and has them […]
Business Associate Agreements Between Covered Entities
During our mock HIPAA audit process, we always verify Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) for our clients who are either Covered Entities (CEs) or Business Associates (BAs). In the process of deciding which BAAs are required, we are often asked about what agreement needs to be in place between two CEs who are working together. For instance, […]
Discussing PHI With Relatives and Friends of Your Patient
I was recently asked about the following situation: If a patient’s wife, mother, husband, father, or friend calls in to make an appointment on their behalf, what all can I discuss with them? Do I need a patient’s authorization first before I can discuss PHI with his or her relative or friend? This is a […]
How to Prepare For HIPAA Breaches
There are many steps you can take to prepare your organization for a HIPAA breach. If you are proactive, you can mitigate the severity of a breach considerably. And if you have the right policies in place, you can save your practice from large fines and other financial costs. Lets go over the things your […]
HIPAA and Minimum Necessary Disclosures
HIPAA regulations state that when using or disclosing PHI (protected health information) or when requesting PHI from another covered entity (a doctor’s office, dental practice, etc), a covered entity must make reasonable efforts to limit PHI, to the minimum necessary, to accomplish the intended purpose of the use, disclosure or request. So how do we accomplish […]