The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a U.S. statute that establishes national standards for safeguarding sensitive patient health information and medical records in order to protect individual privacy. Several other pieces of legislation, such as the Public Health Service Act and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, are included into HIPAA rules.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of the HIPAA rules as well as all the information your firm needs to know regarding IT security in order to achieve HIPAA compliance.
HIPAA Complaince rules
1 HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules
All HIPAA regulations must be followed by every business associate and covered entity that has access to PHI. This includes making sure the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s physical, technical, and administrative safeguards are established, enforced, and adhered to.
In the event of a PHI breach, associates and companies must follow the HIPAA breach notification rule’s guidelines.
HIPAA Privacy Rule (for Covered Entities only)
Requires businesses to offer security measures to preserve the privacy of patient medical records. Additionally, it imposes restrictions and limitations on the use and dissemination of PHI without the consent of the patient.
The health care provider’s right to restrict access to PHI, the patient’s right to request PHI, the nature of notices of privacy practises, and the use and disclosure forms are among the standards outlined under the HIPAA privacy rule. These regulations and procedures should be taught to all staff once a year. Documentation of this training is required.
HIPAA Security Rule (for Covered Entities and electronic PHI only)
A division of the HIPAA privacy standard. It outlines the requirements that must be met in order to safeguard electronic Private Health Information (ePHI) both during transit and at rest. Any system or person with access to private patient information is subject to the rules.
HIPAA Breach Notification Rule
This rule distinguishes between two categories of violations: insignificant violations and significant violations. Regardless of scale, all breaches must be reported by organisations to the HHS, but depending on the type of breach, there are different disclosure methods. The breach notification regulation ensures that covered entities are still accountable for PHI, protecting it. Additionally, it ensures that patients are notified if their private medical information has been compromised.
HIPAA Omnibus Rule
This rule updates definitions, clarifies policies and procedures, and broadens the application of the HIPAA compliance checklist to include business partners and their subcontractors. It mandates adherence from business partners and outlines the regulations governing business partner agreements (BAAs).
Due to the possibility of PHI or ePHI interchange, these agreements must be made between a covered entity and a business partner or between two business associates.