Effective Techniques Useful for HIPAA

There are only a limited amount of people who can directly have admittance or access to a patient's medical record. These are the patient himself (or herself), the health care professional and any family member or friend who the patient grants access to his records. To give needed security for patients' records, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was approved by the US Congress. This law incorporates the right of the patient to make his medical information confidential and to know why the health care professional uses his records. Since this matter is sensitive and necessary, health care providers are obliged to give their employees proper training about HIPAA.

• Who is Responsible for the Training?

Though training for HIPAA is available, the question of who is responsible in providing the said training should be tackled first. The individuals or institutions that have direct contact with the patients' confidential medical records like hospitals, nurses, doctors, nursing homes, insurance companies and pharmacies must educate their employees regarding the HIPAA law. These individuals and institutions are responsible for the transfer and exchange of information of the patient.

• Giving the right training to the employees is a must.

An individual or institution mentioned above is required to offer HIPAA training to its staff members. Generally the employers pay for the training as the employees will undergo this continued education for the benefit of the institution. Thus staff members are then educated about ways to avoid any medical information leakage or abuse of the medical records usage. The employer should insure that his or her staff members are taught the necessary regulations to follow pertaining to the health records of the patients. Penalties for violations of HIPAA should also be discussed during the training so that the employees are made aware of the consequences he or she may suffer.

• After introducing HIPAA training to their staff members, continued training must be done regularly to keep up with changes in policies and regulations, etc. There are instances when HIPAA may undergo necessary alterations and improvements as for the betterment of the concerned entities, for example. Also distributing memos and newsletters regarding HIPAA info can help enforce the info, too.

• Adapt with today's modern technology.

Nowadays, files or records with health care providers and insurance companies are kept confidential in computer systems at the various businesses. Hence, the institutions are obliged to insure the safety of the information stored in the computers.

Passwords need to be established and changed on a regular basis, according to HIPAA policy. In addition, archived records and those in data backup and other storage, even offline, need to be secure. Security is very important because medical information may leaked to the wrong people. The health information of every patient must be kept private to avoid penalties due to violating HIPAA policy.