HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

Training: Organizations can lower their risk of regulatory action through HIPAA compliance training programs. Distance Learning Connection offers online and in-person training programs that provide certification credentials to indicate an understanding of the guidelines and regulations specified by the act. Click here to review the HIPPA Course Topics.

What is HIPAA: The Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, commonly known as the HIPAA Privacy Rule, establishes the first national standards in the United States to protect patients’ personal or protected health information (PHI).HHS issued the rule to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive PHI. It seeks to protect the privacy of patients by requiring doctors to provide patients with an account of each entity to which the doctor discloses PHI for billing and administrative purposes, while still allowing relevant health information to flow through the proper channels. The privacy rule also guarantees patients the right to receive their own PHI, upon request, from healthcare providers covered by HIPAA.

Who does it effect: The HIPAA Privacy Rule applies to organizations that are considered HIPAA-covered entities, including health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and healthcare providers. In addition, the HIPAA Privacy Rule requires covered entities that work with a HIPAA business associate to produce a contract that imposes specific safeguards on the PHI that the business associate uses or discloses.

What information is protected? The HIPAA Privacy Rule protects all individually identifiable health information that is held or transmitted by a covered entity or a business associate. This information can be held in any form, including digital, paper or oral. This individually identifiable health information is also known as PHI under the Privacy Rule.

What is considered protected health information under HIPAA? PHI includes: a patient’s name, address, birth date and Social Security number; an individual’s physical or mental health condition; any care provided to an individual; or information concerning the payment for the care provided to the individual that identifies the patient, or information for which there is a reasonable basis to believe could be used to identify the patient.

Administrative requirements The Privacy Rule lays out certain administrative requirements that covered entities must have in place.

These requirements include the following:

• A privacy official must be appointed who is responsible for developing and implementing policies and procedures at a covered entity.
• Employees, including volunteers and trainees, must be trained on policies and procedures.
• Appropriate administrative, technical and physical safeguards must be maintained to protect the privacy of PHI in a covered entity.
• A process for individuals to make complaints concerning policies and procedures must be in place at a covered entity.
• If PHI is disclosed in violation of its policies and procedures, a covered entity must mitigate, to the furthest extent actionable, any harmful effects.

Why Take The HIPAA Compliance Training Program?

The HIPAA Compliance Training program offered by Distance Learning Connection is designed for organizations to ensure that their employees stay compliant. The HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Compliance Training ensures that your employees stay compliant. It offers great value by giving an in-depth understanding of the HIPAA security rule in New York. Those who enroll in the course understand the New York public health law better as well as the laws concerning an NYC HIPAA violation. Successful completion of the HIPAA Compliance Training Program will make you a New York HIPAA compliance consultant. To take our individual training course, call Distance Learning Connection today for a Consultation.