HIPAA is in place to create safeguards for patient privacy. Anyone providing medical service or dealing with medical information must comply with HIPAA requirements. This can be especially challenging as more and more providers move to electronic systems and storage of medical records, but a healthcare attorney in Orlando can help. Complying with HIPAA requirements is a multi-step process that includes:

1. Establishing a Privacy Policy
Your organization needs to have a basic privacy policy in place before it even begins to address the technical issues. It also needs to be followed and include all security and privacy issues, and be documented and noted when a breach occurs.

2. Assign a Privacy Officer
Assigning a privacy officer or officers ensure that someone is responsible for overseeing HIPAA issues. In some cases this can be a healthcare attorney in Orlando, but it can also be a member of your staff. There can also be multiple people doing the job so there are numerous checks and balances. This gives you internal controls and creates a barrier between your facility and HIPAA regulators.

3. Conduct Risk Assessments
The strongest systems are assessed for their risk and then those risks are addressed. These should be done on an ongoing basis, even if you think things are running smoothly.

4. Implement Electronic Communication Policies
You need a policy in place that addresses texting and email communication to ensure it meets HIPAA guidelines. Any private information that is transmitted via email or smartphone texting must be protected. A healthcare attorney in Orlando can help you design and implement a program that meets your requirements.

5. Educate Employees
A policy is only as good as the employees using it. All the policies and safeguards in the world will not help if they are not applied by those handling the information. Employees should be trained and educated and should be required to participate in education programs on an ongoing basis.

6. Establish Breach Protocols
As nice as it is to assume a breach will not occur, chances are there will be one sooner or later. Dealing with is successfully means having a plan in place that mitigates the damage. A breach plan could details about when to report a breach, how to investigate it, who to tell, and how to find the root cause and fix it. A breach is serious, but if you anticipate it happening and you know what you will do when it does happen, there will not be any reason to panic.

7. Implement Technical Safeguards
It is important to have technical safeguards in place that make it more difficult for wrongdoers to commit a breach of your data. This might include making the information unreachable, unreadable, or unusable. Some safeguards include encryption, audit controls, access control, auto log-off devices, and authenticating PHI.

Understanding the framework of HIPAA compliance and knowing what tech requirements are needed on your end ensures you are prepared no matter what happens. A healthcare attorney in Orlando can help.

To learn more about HIPPA compliance or to discuss your responsibilities, contact Tracy Mabry at 407-347-9988.

Tracy Mabry
https://www.tracymabrylaw.com/