Hipaa Compliance - Non - compliance Isn ' t Worth The Consequences

Hipaa Compliance - Non - compliance Isn ' t Worth The Consequences

It just got tougher be in HIPAA Compliance. Essentially, it all started when the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act was signed into law in 2009 - however HITECH Act did not take effect until 2010. HITECH was meant to push the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. It was only fitting that the U. S. Department of Health & Human Services introduce law that would establish the privacy of individual health information, considering many facilities have made paper records a thing of the past. For those not dealing with the electronic transmission of health information properly, HITECH Act paves the road for serious consequences; HITECH provides the provision that strengthens the civil and criminal effort of the HIPAA rules.
Monetary fines subservient the HITECH Act can run anywhere from $100 per single onslaught to $1, 500, 000 as the maximum for a calendar year worth of violations. Monetary fines are based on tiers. Each tail escalates in proportion to the violations by the criminal; the credo is assessed depending on the violence of the strike, along with the resulting harm. If you are one of the entities ( i. e. health care physicians, health care services, businesses with health care plans, etc. ) mandated to be in compliance with HIPAA you could be liable for pecuniary penalties enforced by HHS along with criminal penalties, enforced by the United States Department of Judicature.
In addition to the preference of fiscal fines and imprisonment, you might consider how important your companies reputation is - that in itself should be yen enough to stay HIPAA compliant. Improperly disposing of health records can land you on the front page of the news, which is the last thing a company or practice needs. However, it ' s those high fines that are really pioneer to make those of us mandated to be HIPAA compliant sweat. The high fines levied on HIPAA violators follow the importance of safeguarding sheltered health information. Faced with the impending ultimatum of towering fines from error to meet HIPAA data gap requirements, the health service industry is seeking ways to make explicit they are HIPAA compliant.
A facility can guard compliance in a number of ways. These methods scope anywhere from hiring an apostle to guide you through compliance, pike seminars, having a consultant visiting your facility, or purchasing software or other selfsame compliance tools to guide you through the process. It would be a massive task to sift through the HIPAA laws and administrative compliance procedures for any one person. I certainly advise soliciting some sort of help. The end is to makes specific all staff is trained in the duplicate fashion, on a facility specific HIPAA compliance program. While the whole process may seem weighty, taking the time and making the investment to ice HIPAA compliance is enterprise to pay off if the Department of Health and Human Services, or the Department of Judicatory ever decide to pay a visit.