HIPAA is an acronym that stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996 to ensure that privacy is maintained in regards to patients' medical records. HIPAA to greater extent has transformed the way that healthcare providers manage patients' personal information. HIPAA has not only set the ground rules for sharing patient records between clinics and insurance companies, it has also created a vast new standard for ensuring the privacy of personal medical information.
The HIPAA Security Rule is a key part of HIPAA--federal legislation that was passed into law in August 1996. This rule deals with electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI), which is created, received, used, or maintained by a covered entity. The Security Rule requires implementation of three types of safeguards:
1. Administrative
2. Physical
3. Technical
Different security standards are identified by the rule for each of these types, and for each standard, it names both required and addressable implementation specifications. Required specifications must be adopted and administered as dictated by the Rule. Addressable specifications are more flexible. Individual covered entities can evaluate their own situation and determine the best way to implement addressable specifications.
Developing or revising your organization's security policies and procedures is a major task that takes time and attention to detail. Each policy must specifically reflect the Security regulations' complex requirements, yet be worded simply enough to be understood and applied across the entire organization. Each security policy must set the foundation for the individual departmental procedures needed to support and implement the policy.
We offer various templates to help companies comply with the requirement of policies and procedures of Security Rule. Our HIPAA Security policy and procedures templates are ideally suited for following categories of organizations: Hospital, Long Term Care organizations, Health Plans, Insurance Companies, Third Party Administrators, Clearing Houses, Physicians, County Government, State Agencies, Business associates and other payor & providers.
