Hipaa Training Is Important In Every Practice

HIPAA training is an important part of any medical practice

. This involves every member of staff knowing how to protect patient privacy on paper, and throughout the practice. While most practices focus on the obvious violations that involve patient medical records, there are other, less subtle violations that may be occurring in the office.

Whiteboards are used quite often in medical facilities. Many times, these boards contain the names of patients and their conditions. The purpose of using the boards is strictly for medical staff to keep up with patient loads on a daily basis, and sometimes to track different products that were ordered for patients. It is considered a violation of the clients privacy to have the whiteboards in an area where other people besides medical staff could see them. If you use these in your office, make sure that they are behind closed doors or in an area where the general public is not allowed.

The medical answering service that you employ should also be trained in proper HIPAA practices. They should not repeat conversations that they have with your patients on the phone, or give any other information about them to others that are not privy to it. It would be beneficial to check with the company to find out what their HIPAA training policies are for every level of staff.

E-mail and fax communication should also be monitored for privacy. Whenever possible, documents should be electronically faxed as opposed to using a traditional fax machine. This will help ensure that the documents get to the proper person and are not intercepted by someone who could misuse the patient's data. E-mails containing sensitive information should be encrypted.

Members of your staff that speak with third parties such as insurance companies on the phone should be very careful about mentioning the patient's condition and their name. They should refer to the patient by their medical record number whenever possible, as the patient number is on the bottom of every claim. Doing this should not interfere with their ability to status claims or communicate with the insurance representative.

HIPAA policies are set in place to keep sensitive patient information private. By properly training your staff and following compliance recommendations, you can ensure that your facility does not violate any compliance rules and is ultimately working in the best interest of the patient by keeping their information under tight wraps.

by: Kurt Duncan

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