Formed in 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was formed to protect patient health information due to the increase of cybersecurity threats and digital storage mediums that practices were gradually switching over to. HIPAA provides federal protections for personal health information and it also gives patients rights to their protected health information. HIPAA also requires companies to become HIPAA compliant by implementing a variety of different safeguards to protect patient information.
HIPAA violations are punished with terminations, sanctions from professional boards and even criminal charges. It depends on the nature of the violation, the harm caused by the violation and also if there was action taken to prevent or report it in a timely fashion. Criminal penalties for HIPAA violations can be severe and the minimum fine for willful violations of HIPAA is $50,000. This could seriously hinder your healthcare business, and also destroy any faith that your customers had in your healthcare or medical practice.
Do I Need to be HIPAA Compliant?
If you’re a doctor, dentist, pharmacy or run any kind of health and medicine related business, then you’ll likely need to become HIPAA compliant. Business associates also need to become HIPAA compliant, such as billing services, IT providers and attorneys that work with medical information.
This means that even if your company isn’t directly related to the healthcare industry, you’ll likely need to become HIPAA compliant in order to work with clients that are in those respective industries. If you neglect to achieve HIPAA compliance even when outsourcing your services to a healthcare company, you may be subject to a fine due to your exposure to private healthcare documents.
Becoming HIPAA Compliant
Becoming HIPAA compliant requires you to be incredibly well-versed with the HIPAA guidelines and regulations. This means that it can take a lot of time for your company to reach full HIPAA compliance and even longer to have your company certified. This takes a lot of resources and time out of your work duties, hence why working with an IT company, such as LYFE Networks, that specializes in healthcare and HIPAA compliance is the best option.
Our specialized HIPAA compliant IT services will ensure that you’re using HIPAA-compliant electronic medical records software and that you have a Systems Security Plan (SSP) in place to prove and maintain your HIPAA compliance. By optimizing your organization’s approach to HIPAA compliance, you can ensure that achieving compliance won’t hinder your workflow or productivity and you’ll be constantly up-to-date with the regulations to ensure you don’t experience a fine in the future.
Contact Us Now
We understand that HIPAA compliance presents unique regulatory challenges to your business and the way it operates, hence why we’re more than happy to explain the processes and guide you to achieving HIPAA compliance in an efficient manner.
Contact Us