The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services established the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), in 1996. This act aims to ensure the protection of a patient’s healthcare information from public access. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the HIPAA Privacy & Security Rule to ensure organisations comply with HIPAA requirements. Companies that process, store, use and transmit Patient Health information (PHI) must be HIPAA Compliant. Non adherence to HIPAA requirements could result in civil and even criminal penalties.

There are two main elements in HIPAA as follows.

• 1. The Privacy rule This rule protects the privacy of the personal health information of an individual. It sets limits and conditions on the uses and disclosures of such information without the patient’s authorization.
• 2. The Security rule According to this, appropriate administrative, physical, and technical measures should be adopted to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and security of the patients’ health information.

Benefits of HIPAA Compliance

• Reduced medical errors in busy systems: Due to HIPAA, medical professionals and patients have to work together when building medical files. Since there are multiple parties involved in building each file, it reduced discrepancy and the possibility of making errors in medical records. This improves the overall safety and quality of patient care, as medical practitioners and nurses have confidence in the quality of data. Also, upgrades to electronic health records (EHRs) made it easier for research to be conducted immediately following patient interviews. Leveraging all these factors together has improved operational efficiency, which was not present before HIPAA was enacted.
• Gives an edge over competition: Allows for positive differentiation among competitors, as HIPAA compliant practices are seen as more secure as it relates to patient information.
• Increased Protection for Virtual Healthcare Providers: Because telemedicine is a relatively new form of healthcare, it requires additional care that patient data and sensitive information is being properly protected.
  Healthcare companies that can prove HIPAA compliance and that adhere to policies and regulations outlined under the act are better protected against audits by the OCR. That’s because they have proof that they’re actively protecting patient PHI.
  It also helps drive profitability in the organization. When healthcare providers can prove that they offer HIPAA compliant services, it’s easier for them to get patients and build a virtual network.
  HIPAA has become even more important for protecting virtual healthcare providers and ensuring their ongoing success and profitability because of this.
• Enhanced Cyber Security: One of the important benefits of HIPAA is that organizations are required to keep their data systems, networks, and software patched and updated at all times. Many medical providers previously failed to keep their data systems updated. Modern and updated systems have the capability to automatically reduce manual errors. Additionally, organizations must be more aware of malicious software that can potentially compromise patients’ health information. Many healthcare records have been breached due to a lack of adequate cyber security measures in place. If HIPAA did not exist, many healthcare organizations would most likely take cyber security measures more lightly.
• Protection against PHI loss: Ensures that every member of a healthcare organisation understands the best practices necessary to protect both the privacy and security of patients’ and thus create a ‘human firewall’ against a data breach. This protects the organisation and their employees from lawsuits as every member of the organisation knows how to protect Private Healthcare Information (PHI).

Our Approach to HIPAA Compliance:

• Scope Definition Here we undertake a thorough assessment of the scope of HIPAA applicability. We determine the assets required to be HIPAA compliant and the business portion which has to be excluded.
• Gap Analysis: TWe offer a gap assessment service that’s been meticulously designed to unveil areas of non-compliance and heightened risk.
• Risk Assessment: HIPAA requires a comprehensive risk assessment of ePHI infrastructure that covers users, information assets, network services, policies and procedures, breach response procedure to name a few. We have a complete risk assessment methodology that helps you demonstrate HIPAA requirements. We conduct a comprehensive Risk Assessment to identify weak areas and loopholes that could impact the business critical assets of your organisation.
• Implementation: Risk treatment is the process for implementing the appropriate information security controls. Using formalized risk management processes, we help you determine the appropriate level of risk treatment in a manner that is consistent with the HIPAA security risk assessment.
• Internal Audit: Our internal audit methodology includes people, process, technology and measurements to assure and provide management with the degree of HIPAA compliance.
• Awareness Training: We conduct a brief Awareness Training program on HIPAA for your organisation that outlines the importance of protecting patient’s health information and their importance to the organisation.