Know the importance of HIPAA Training....
Jan 25, 2022 01:07:36
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was signed into law in 1996. The purpose of the act is to protect sensitive patient data. It lists various technical and nontechnical safeguards that entities, medical personnel, and businesses need to adhere to when handling patient information.
As healthcare entities digitize protected health information (PHI), it’s becoming very important to put up safeguards. Technology has made it easier for the health industry to efficiently record and manage patient records. However, it does greatly increase the security risks facing healthcare data.
Therefore, regardless of your position in the healthcare sector, if your job requires handling PHI, you’ll need to ensure you go through training to get authorization to handle such information. Hence, below are the reasons why overseas medical interns need HIPAA training.
If you’re planning to continue your medical career in the US healthcare industry, you’ll be required to take a HIPAA course. If you practice medicine in the US, you’ll be required to be HIPAA-compliant regardless of where you did your internship. An organization dealing with PHI is required to provide all employees with HIPAA training periodically.
Therefore, your employer may require you to do the training once a year or once every two years. Failure to comply with HIPAA could result in a hefty fine of USD$50,000 up to $250,000. You could be even imprisoned for up to 10 years.
The act ensures that the patients' rights are protected and those who are trusted with their information have the necessary knowledge to ensure that health data is safeguarded. As a medical professional, you’re required to uphold a high standard of integrity and professionalism.
Your patients trust you to handle their personal health information with care and ensure the safety of that data. If you mishandled PHI, it could result in a lawsuit, suspension, or even termination of your medical license. Therefore, don’t wait to take the training nor handle PHI without proper authorization.
Ransomware has driven the rise in healthcare data. Based on data analyzed by Bitglass, data breaches increased by 55.1%, from 386 in 2019 to 599 in 2020. The main causes of these breaches are IT hacks and unauthorized access or disclosure of information. That’s why health systems around the world have different ways of protecting their health data.
However, the strength of these information systems may differ. If you’re authorized to have access to PHI where you’re doing your internship, then HIPAA training can be very useful. Most countries have similar standards when it comes to data protection and privacy standards. However, HIPAA courses train people on technical and nontechnical safeguards, and how to report a breach.
The safeguards imposed by the act can be very useful to know if you’re doing your internship in a country that doesn’t have strong cybersecurity controls. You can take the necessary measures, if authorized and within the law, to ensure that the information you handle is safe and secure. However, if the cybersecurity controls are strong, it’d still help to know the technical safeguards to ensure that PHI isn’t destroyed or altered.
Different countries have their own data security regulations that entities, businesses, and healthcare workers are required to comply with. While some countries may cover the same things as the act, some cover a broader scope. For example, The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) doesn’t exclusively deal with health information.
Therefore, if you’re planning to continue your career in the U.S., it’ll be important to know the different requirements for HIPAA compliance. However, if the organization you work for does business with an American healthcare organization, then it must comply with the standards imposed by HIPAA and have a signed business associate agreement.
If an organization has the two things mentioned above, then overseas medical interns will need to go through HIPAA training if their position requires them to have the authorization to handle PHI in the organization.
Over the years, HIPAA has been updated to address various risks and issues that arise when handling PHI. The last major updates made on the act were made in 2009, with the Breach Notification Rule, and 2013, with the HIPAA Omnibus Final Rules. There are more changes and updates expected to be made on the act in 2022.
As a result of advancements in technology and changes within the work environment in a healthcare setting, there have been various issues that the act needs to address regarding protect patient information. There are about 17 proposed updates to the act.
Here’s a list of some of the proposed updates to the HIPAA Privacy Rule:
Patients will be allowed to inspect their PHI in person, and take notes or photographs of their PHI.
Patients should be provided with ePHI free of charge.
Care coordination and case managements are covered in the definition of healthcare operations.
There’s a definition added for electronic health records and personal health applications.
Patients should be given timely access or copies to their health records within the range of 10 to 15 days.
Requests by individuals to transfer ePHI to a third party will be limited to the ePHI maintained in an EHR.
Patients will be allowed to request the transfer of their PHI to a personal health application.
The current standard allows covered entities to only disclose PHI when the threat to health safety is ‘serious and imminent.’ However, the new change permits covered entities to divulge PHI in order to prevent a threat to health or safety when a harm is ‘serious and reasonably foreseeable.’
Authorized covered entities can use and disclose PHI for certain purposes based on their good faith that they’re acting in the best interest of the individual.
These are changes that’ll be implemented during the course of 2022. You might be familiar with the basic requirements for HIPAA compliance, but you’ll be required to go for retraining so that you’re up-to-date with the new changes.
medical personnel and businesses need to adhere to this when handling patient information. The need for privacy when handling customer information has become increasingly important due to advancements in technology and the risks associated thereto. This can be seen in sectors other than the medical industry. Like the financial industry that also implements privacy requirements. The consequences of breaching these requirements allow customers to take legal action. When taking legal action consumers are generally advised to consult firms that can assist in holding companies in breach of privacy. Firms like Fair Credit or Francis Mailman Soumilas specialise in this area of law.
The act covers a range of topics regarding standards for the protection of certain health information and privacy of individually identifiable information. Therefore, it’d be very useful and beneficial to go through the training if you’re doing your internship in a country or organization with little funds to train medical staff on data protection standards.
Even if you’re doing your internship overseas, it’s useful to comply with privacy and data protection standards. Additionally, as the infrastructure changes and technology advances, the HIPAAA standards will have to address the reality of those changes.
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