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What Is HIPAA Compliance?

 One of the most commonly asked questions to the HIPAA compliant printing companies is “What is HIPAA compliance?”The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, commonly known as HIPAA, is a series of regulatory standards that outline the lawful use and disclosure of protected health information (PHI). HIPAA compliance is regulated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and enforced by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

Role of HIPAA 

The OCR’s role in maintaining medical HIPAA compliance comes in the form of routine guidance on new issues affecting health care and in investigating common HIPAA violations.

Through a series of interlocking regulatory rules, HIPAA compliance is a living culture that health care organizations must implement into their business in order to protect the privacy, security, and integrity of protected health information. Learn more about how to become HIPAA compliant with Compliancy Group’s software solutions.

Who Needs To Be HIPAA Compliant? 

HIPAA regulation identifies two types of organizations that must be HIPAA compliant.

  • Covered Entities: A covered entity is defined by HIPAA regulation as any organization that collects, creates, or transmits PHI electronically. Health care organizations that are considered covered entities include health care providers, health care clearinghouses, and health insurance providers.

  • Business Associates: A business associate is defined by HIPAA regulation as any organization that encounters PHI in any way over the course of work that it has been contracted to perform on behalf of a covered entity. There are many, many examples of business associates because of the wide scope of service providers that may handle, transmit, or process PHI. 

Conclusion 

Common examples of business associates affected by HIPAA rules include: billing companies, practice management firms, third-party consultants, EHR platforms, MSPs, IT providers, faxing companies, shredding companies, physical storage providers, cloud storage providers, email hosting services, attorneys, accountants, and many more.


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