Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy training is a major focus of every healthcare compliance program. The rules are complex and difficult to cover when time for training is short. Here are a few important core concepts that should be included in every privacy training.
What is HIPAA?
HIPAA was signed into law in 1996 to improve the portability and accountability of health insurance coverage and to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and healthcare delivery. The procedures for simplifying the administration of health insurance became a vehicle for encouraging the healthcare industry to move to electronic health records. HIPAA and the subsequent Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 are designed to give patients rights regarding their protected health information (PHI) and ensure health information is kept secure. These laws also established breach notification requirements to ensure patients are notified of breaches of their PHI.
