In 1996 the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was enacted. HIPAA was created for several reasons—mainly to solve issues dealing with continuing health coverage for people who lose their jobs, reducing health care fraud, creating industry-wide standards, and protecting private health information. HIPAA continues to be important to the health care industry today.
It created policies such as the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (colloquially known as the Privacy Rule). It set national standards for the protection of private health information, or PHI. This also created ways to hold medical practices accountable for security.
There has been a significant surge in interest in HIPAA recently, primarily due to the increase in data breaches affecting healthcare organizations. As these organizations rely more on digital systems to store sensitive patient information, the risk of cyberattacks has escalated, exposing vulnerabilities in data protection practices. This growing concern has led healthcare providers to prioritize HIPAA compliance. They are now investing in stronger security measures and employee training to safeguard patient data. Additionally, regulatory agencies are increasing enforcement efforts, making it crucial for healthcare organizations to adhere to HIPAA standards to maintain trust and protect patient privacy.
Why HIPAA Is Important
Personal healthcare information is highly sought after by identity thieves. As criminals find new ways to steal data, the privacy and security measures in the healthcare industry are crucial.
It’s important for healthcare providers to be aware of HIPAA because it created rules that health organizations must comply with.
Not understanding HIPAA rules or willfully violating security procedures will lead to heavy fines and mandatory structural reorganization.
- Unknowing Violation: $100 to $50,000 per record if the provider didn’t know or couldn’t have known of the breach
- Reasonable Cause: $1,000 to $50,000 per record if the provider knew or should have known with reasonable diligence (like repeat violations)
- Willful Neglect: $10,000 to $50,000 per record if the provider acted with willful neglect and corrected the problem within 30 days.
- Uncorrected Willful Neglect: $50,000 to $1.5 million if the provider acted with willful neglect and didn’t correct the violation in 30 days.
Each of these types of violations carries an annual yearly maximum penalty of $1.5 million.
Also consider the fact that HIPAA was designed to place greater emphasis on security in healthcare and keep people safe. If avoiding a fine is not enough motivation to keep your data secure, think of the people behind the numbers. The more steps you take to keep your data secure, the safer you are keeping your patients.
Why Was HIPAA Enacted?
HIPAA is a piece of legislation designed to simplify, standardize, and solidify healthcare industry processes. From security to ease of communication between doctors, the policy seeks to provide guidelines and support for organizations.
The five distinct titles within HIPAA are broken into sections including:
- Title I: HIPAA Health Insurance Reform
- Title II: HIPAA Administrative Simplification
- Title III: HIPAA Tax-Related Health Provisions
- Title IV: Application and Enforcement of Group Health Plan Requirements
- Title V: Revenue Offsets
When HIPAA is brought up, it usually is in reference to rules in Title II which cover the security of private health information. Compliance with these rules is critical for a successful and sustainable healthcare organization.
HIPAA Privacy Rule (effective in 2003)
Establishes guidelines for protecting personal health information (PHI). It limits how sensitive health data can be used and shared, requiring healthcare providers to keep track of every entity that receives PHI. This rule is essential for maintaining patient privacy and ensuring that healthcare organizations follow strict standards for handling sensitive information.
HIPAA Security Rule (effective 2005)
Sets national standards for safeguarding electronically stored patient information. It requires healthcare organizations to implement specific security measures to protect electronic protected health information (ePHI) during storage, transmission, and processing. This rule aims to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of patient data in the digital age.
One of the main important goals of HIPAA was to create a more streamlined and efficient healthcare system. By establishing standardized processes for the electronic exchange of health information, HIPAA aimed to reduce administrative burdens and improve communication between healthcare providers. This not only enhances patient care but also helps to ensure that sensitive health data is handled securely and consistently across the industry.
It encouraged healthcare organizations to go digital so that sharing information could be easier. It initiated standardized techniques to streamline the process and included safety measures to enhance the privacy of digitized personal information.
Security and privacy practices were originally included in HIPAA, but they were not the main focus of the law. However, with the recent surge in data breaches and hacking incidents, this portion of the law has been amplified.
What Steps Can I Take to Avoid HIPAA Violations?
It is important to be aware and keep yourself HIPAA compliant. The best way to avoid violating HIPAA rules is to know how they apply to your organization. Health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and healthcare providers that electronically transmit health information are all affected.
- Encryption Services: Data encryption is a way to protect data by translating it into another form that can only be read by the person or computer with the encryption code.
- Employee Training: Train your employees every year on digital security and what your company policies are.
- Know the Laws: HIPAA, HITECH, & FACTA are three laws that require careful compliance.
- Cloud-Based Data Storage: Your data can be safer than ever using a cloud-based data storage service since begins with scanning your records into electronic health records.
- Electronic Health Records: Electronic health records (EHR) make all your patients’ records compliant with HITECH and HIPAA.
Need a HIPAA-Compliant Records Management Partner?
Record Nations partners with certified records management professionals throughout the country. If you need to digitize your records, find a document management system, or store your physical records safely offsite, we’ll help you find a qualified provider nearby.
Call us today at (866) 385-3706 or fill out the form on the right to get free quotes on local services. We look forward to helping your organization find a document management solution that works.
