Why is HIPAA Compliance a Top Priority for Healthcare Administrators?

HIPAA is a legal healthcare privacy standard passed into law by the Clinton administration. The law standardized how private healthcare information had to be protected and stored by hospitals. In its earliest years of inception, these rules were straightforward. Things have changed considerably.

With the digitalization of healthcare records, it’s now easier than ever for patients and hospitals to access records, but it’s also easier for bad actors.

In this article, we look at what HIPAA is, why it matters, and how?healthcare administrators?play a pivotal role in enforcing it.

Why is HIPAA Important?

HIPAA Regulation is essential not just from the legal perspective but also important for both patients and healthcare organizations (covered entities) and Service Providers (Business Associates) as well.

At the administrative level, HIPAA standardizes how healthcare records should be handled. Everyone working with private healthcare information is required to follow a set of guidelines that they need to follow. Because these guidelines are a mandate by law and organizations including the staff and third-party vendors are expected to comply with the rules and processes as per HIPAA. Non-compliance with HIPAA Rules comes with hefty fines and penalties. So, Covered Entities and Business Associates are expected to meet the security and privacy requirements of HIPAA and ensure the maximum level of security for the PHI Data.?Adhering to the HIPAA Rules and achieving compliance in a way also ensures a streamlined process of operations when it comes to handling PHI records.

On the other hand, for patients, the benefits are much more. This is especially in terms of the patients being able to exercise their rights and benefits concerning their insurance plans and also associated with maintaining the security and privacy of their data.

The regulation also calls for implementing necessary security measures to safeguard both physical and electronic forms of PHI data handled by Covered Entities and Business Associates. HIPAA mandates the need to protect digital records by implementing Administrative, Physical, and Technical Safeguards.

Today with most businesses adopting cloud services, sensitive PHI data does not just exists in physical files but also in the “cloud,”. So, now the burden of responsibility for securing ePHI data and achieving HIPAA compliance is much broader in scope.?Administrators?are responsible not just for how they handle information itself, but also for how secure they keep their systems and also ensure that third-party vendors handle the data securely.

How do Healthcare Administrators Make a Difference?

Healthcare administrators are, in many ways, the standard bearers of most healthcare systems. They help enact hospital policy, and just generally inform the way that things are done. When they make a point of prioritizing HIPAA compliance, it sends a message to everyone else that they are expected to follow the same protocol across departments and hierarchies.

Most hospital employees know on some level that HIPAA compliance is a legal and ethical obligation. However, lack of accountability in the work process and security checks in place, there is always a high possibility of negligence resulting in incidents and breaches.?The industry has witnessed instances when violations have occurred due to lack of accountability and negligence.

So, high-level due diligence at the administrative level is essential to keep a security check over the handling and processing of the data and ensure compliance with HIPAA. People put a lot of trust in their healthcare systems. So seeing that trust is being respected and taken seriously, people will be more confident and comfortable seeing their information is handled securely. This will in turn enhance the business/brand reputation of the healthcare organization. In that sense, healthcare administrators play a crucial role when it comes to ensuring adherence to rules, policies, and procedures for compliance within an organization.

Original Source: VISTA InfoSec