If you have a medical practice and you’ve been wondering, “What is HIPAA and what does it mean to my medical practice?” you’re not alone. Please read on:
HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This act sets the standard for protecting sensitive patient data. The deadline for HIPAA compliance was September 23, 2013. Any company that deals with protected health information must ensure that all the required physical, network, and process security measures are in place and followed. The HIPAA Security Rule applies to all health plans, health care clearinghouses, and to any health care provider who transmits health care data in electronic form.
To illustrate the paragraph above, HIPAA simply means a method of having patient records secured from unauthorized access but easily accessible to healthcare practices. The following is an example of proper HIPAA compliance.:
John catches some sickness while on vacation. John now needs to go to a hospital. If the healthcare practice complies with HIPAA, they will be able to access any records, x-rays, scans, allergies, and etc. about the client which will help resolve the issue much more quickly and efficiently while keeping such data secured to only those who should have access.
Why is having your systems HIPAA ready essential? It is the law that health care providers must keep patient records and data secure and protected from any outside source besides the patient and their health care provider. With this being said, practices need to make sure they keep their data secure and have a data loss prevention plan. These practices also need to be up to date on network security in order to keep them protected against any potential attacks. CATS Technology will make sure your data is safe and secure, so that you can do your job without any worries.
“HOW WILL I PAY FOR HIPAA COMPLIANCE?”
Does your practice have an EHR (Electronic Health Record) system? If you do not, your practice may be eligible to earn up to $40,000 or more if you utilize an EHR system within 12 to 17 months. The government has around $17 billion to help fund these EHR systems for your practices. Also, after 2015 the government will start giving financial penalties to those practices that do not follow HIPAA regulations.
Your next step should be to give CATS Technology a call to evaluate your system. CATS will work with you and your systems to make sure they comply with HIPAA regulations and help you get on track with aid from the government. The high level importance of a health care provider meeting HIPAA compliance is critical to the healthcare provider and the future of health care technology. Some of those high level points are: Security Management Process, Information Access Management, Security Incident Procedures, etc. CATS Technology can provide support for your business to help achieve HIPAA compliance. Not only does CATS Technology help your systems meet the requirements but CATS will also maintain your systems and keep your network secure. In order to keep your systems HIPAA compliant proper and regular maintenance needs to be performed.
