October 2024 marked the 28th birthday of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (otherwise known as “HIPAA”). HIPAA was introduced at a time when electronic medical records were just an idea and when the concept of cybersecurity was not even on the radar. While a lot has changed in the world of healthcare over the last 28 years, the fundamental principles of HIPAA remain the same!
Check your knowledge and understanding of these important HIPAA fundamentals to help keep our patients’ information secure!
1. HIPAA Gives Patients Rights
– At its heart, HIPAA is about giving patients control over their medical records, including the right to timely access and obtaining copies of their health records!
Helpful HIPAA Tip! If a patient asks about getting a copy of their medical record, direct them to our partner, HealthMark Group, where they can request a free copy of their legal medical record and receive it in less than two business days!
2. HIPAA Requires Healthcare Organizations Notify Patients of Breaches
– A more recent development of HIPAA requires that every HIPAA incident be assessed to determine if a serious “breach” has occurred. If an incident is deemed a “breach,” then it must be reported to the patient and the government.
Helpful HIPAA Tip! If you identify that patient information has been inappropriately used, accessed, or disclosed, you are required to report immediately! Email [email protected] or file an incident report here!
3. HIPAA Applies to ALL Patient Information – Paper and Electronic
– Remember how we talk about proper disposal of paper patient information in the locked confidential shred bin? We need to take the same level of care of our electronic PHI (ePHI) so that it’s not easily accessible by others.
Helpful HIPAA Tip! Be careful when communicating patient information via email and Teams, and storing patient information to your laptop. Athena is the “source of truth” as our legal medical record and any storage of PHI outside Athena should be limited.
4. HIPAA Compliance Is a Team Sport
– #TeamTryon must work together to keep our patients’ information safe.
Helpful HIPAA Tip! If you have a question or concern about HIPAA, use your resources!
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- Check our Tryon Privacy Policy Library
- Reach out to your Practice Administrator or Office Coordinator
- Email [email protected]
- Report your concern using our incident reporting system here