HIPAA is a complex piece that spans far and wide. We need to focus on many areas like HIPAA basics, legal regulations, compliance, parts, etc. The HIPAA 101 guide lets us know the most in-depth matters very simply.
What is HIPAA?
HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Extension Act of 1996, is a policy that protects workers & their families from losing their health insurance in the event of a job loss. Such protected information is only demographically identifiable information that we can use to identify a patient. Things like addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, e-mails, and full-face photos belong to PHI. HIPAA protects the personal circumstances of children ages 12 to 18. It also establishes several legal regulations for the electronic exchange of health care data.
HIPAA has five different topics and sections. We can identify many definitions related to its basic facts. There’re mainly two types of organizations in regulation here. Covered Entities (CE) and Business Associates (BA) are essential.
Covered Entities (CE)
Various types of healthcare providers, health care clearinghouses, and health insurance plans belong to those organizations. Also, these CEs are directly involved in creating the PHI we mentioned above.
Business Associates (BA)
It is BA’s job to require any organization hired by CE to meet PHI. Practice management agencies, IT providers, Cloud Storage, physical storage providers, data providers, etc., are some of the best examples of BA. BAs must comply with other regulatory standards that may apply to them.
HIPAA Rules
HIPAA was enacted in 1996 and has undergone many significant changes since then. Thus various amendments and changes have been added, and a series of rules have been prepared.
HIPAA Security Rule
This rule provides national standards for maintaining the security of PHI. They should do this through a series of physical, administrative, and technical safeguards implemented by CEs and BAs.
HIPAA Privacy Rule
This rule can also be known as the privacy rule. It sets national standards for PHI’s security, privacy, and integrity. The primary purpose is to ensure that someone will keep PHI private. The Privacy Policy includes guidelines on CE’s practices, disclosures, and rights to access medical records.
HIPAA Omnibus Rule
This rule was first issued in 2013. Since then, it has committed to Bas’s HIPAA compliance. Also, the primary purpose of this rule is to make strict rules for implementing business-related agreements.
HIPAA Breach Notification Rule
Here is a description of the processes to be followed by HIPAA-compliant organizations. Depending on the number of persons penalized by a particular rule violation, the relevant rule may have different standards.
Key topics in HIPAA
Topic 1: Group Health Organizations
These types of healthcare organizations set rules for interacting with patients. Apart from this, such organizations provide excellent service to patients. Imagine a situation where a person gets coverage under a group health organization. There he must get coverage for his pre-existing condition within 12 months.
They also protect their families when that person loses their job. If a person has health insurance at his old job, this allows him to keep the old insurance until his new insurance starts.
But HIPAA does not cover permanent health insurance through these organizations. However, individuals out of work may be able to maintain their health insurance coverage while between jobs. Accordingly, according to HIPAA 101, Title I of HIPAA affects insurance companies and their interactions with patients more than medical billers.
Title 2
Under topic 2, we can mainly focus on different parts. First, let’s discuss the online programs we recommend.
You know, most medical transactions are done electronically. Such secure transactions are faster, more efficient, and error-free. However, patients and regulators have had various concerns regarding the privacy of medical records amid electronic commerce. Topic 2 of HIPAA 101 is essential to discuss such situations.
Accordingly, it has a set of guidelines to ensure the security of physical and electronic records. Here is a clear description of who can access medical information. The rules outlined give patients better control over their medical records.
Medical bills
Medical billing can be introduced as part of Topic 2 of the HIPAA 101 guidelines.
It mainly contains rules for electronic health care data transmission and medical billing and coding procedures. They have included those guidelines in the “Administrative Simplification” (AS) section.
Here is a description of many of the ICD, CPT, and HCPCS codes needed to make a HIPAA claim. However, the primary purpose of AS is to establish a formal communication system for various parties, such as clearinghouses, insurance payers, and government agencies. It is valid for many providers covered by HIPAA, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
In addition, HIPAA 101 requires them to conduct all electronic transactions as a type of electronic data transfer by Title 2. Another point is that all medical transactions here must follow a specific format. There are many different subforms of this form. Also, Title 2 establishes the mandatory use of National Provider Identification Numbers. Finally, many errors related to health care have been mentioned under the two headings. Also, there are punishments for those mistakes.
HIPAA Compliance
You know that any affiliate program happens in a particular order. According to HIPAA 101 and HIPAA Compliance, there is a step-by-step process. Let us discuss them in turn.
Audit series
The first step in HIPAA compliance is the audit series. It gives you a super understanding of what you are doing regarding HIPAA law. Using these audits in your business to measure compliance with HIPAA standards would be best. Auditing your business against them will not give you insight into whether your submission is correct. That’s why it’s always crucial that you use standards.
Remedial plans
Imagine you have completed the audit for the business. Also, consider the scenario after fixing the current HIPAA compliance deficiencies. Now you can launch corrective action plans for the gaps identified by your audit. You need to register in a repository based on the selected roles. Also, someone on your staff should be responsible for implementing a remedial plan.
Policies and Procedures
According to the HIPAA 101 Guide, policies and procedures must be in place to be fully HIPAA compliant. It is essential because HIPAA-compliant organizations must have policies and procedures that apply to the HIPAA standard. Also, suppose the policies your business or organization has implemented do not flow to your business. In that case, they’ll not be able to protect you in case of a HIPAA violation. For this, all the employees of your company should have received suitable training. It is also essential that employee training is carried out annually.
Vendor Management
You must also understand how vendors protect the PHI they access. Assume you share PHI. In such a case, HIPAA requires that your organization execute a business agreement with the relevant vendor beforehand. Several clear points should be mentioned in such an agreement. That is, they must contain that vendors are subject to HIPAA and that they belong to HIPAA.
Management opportunities
For a HIPAA compliance program to be complete, there must be transparent processes to minimize potential errors. That said, it’s essential to have documentation and records of data breaches. According to the HIPAA 101 guidelines, there are standards to manage such situations along the HIPAA breach rule. Accordingly, we can divide the relevant standards into two types of violations.
Minor violations
It includes a data breach in a single jurisdiction, such as a state or city. A data breach that affects fewer than 500 people is extraordinary. People affected by such a minor data breach should be aware of this law. You must report these violations to HHS within 60 days.
Meaningful violations
An information breach affecting more than 500 people in any jurisdiction is a significant breach. It would be best to inform the people affected by such a situation. As above, you must report it to HHS within 60 days. Your business or organization will be audited accordingly in any federal investigation. If it is HIPAA compliant, you will get a good guarantee.
To make your compliance program the most successful, document your compliance clearly to a federal investigator at the end of the day—document all your HIPAA compliance-related steps. Also, store those documents in a single repository for those who need access.
