HIPAA Compliance and COVID-19

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was created to standardize the protection of sensitive patient data. It requires any organization dealing with protected health information (PHI) to ensure all physical, network, and security measures are in place and followed in order to ensure the safety of PHI. In 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was adopted to promote the “meaningful use of health information technology,” and address privacy and security challenges around the transmission of health information.

And while you may be aware of the importance of HIPAA compliance, actually being HIPAA compliant can feel like a constant monkey on your back. But HIPAA compliance isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a must for all of us in the healthcare world.

Yet, as the ways in which we store protected health information (PHI or ePHI) becomes more complex, coupled with the continued advancement of telehealth, those in charge of securing data are faced with ever-evolving methods of attack. Which has kept the The HHS Office for Civil Rights busy, regularly delivering new guidance.

In fact, those threats are only getting worse, as bad actors are creating new hacks every day, preying on each of us during this time of panic, uncertainty, and change. You might have recently been a target of one of the many new COVID-related phishing attempts.

So we thought now would be a great time to help ensure your organization is HIPAA compliant, and able to stand up to scrutiny in the event of an audit, or one of the many attacks being performed on healthcare organizations. Which is why we created this free HIPAA Compliance Checklist.

By the time you’re done with this interactive Excel document checklist, you will know what bases you have covered, and understand the areas where your organization is most at risk. So download it now, to make sure you’re properly:

• Maintaining HIPAA Compliance Documentation for at Least 6 years
• Identifying and Documenting Procedures Used for Routine Requests of PHI
• Obtaining Acknowledgement of Receipt of NPP From the Patient or Individual