HIPAA Lawyer for Physicians
HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is a U.S. federal privacy law governing private health information. It establishes national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and other personal health information. Health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers that conduct certain medical-related transactions electronically are subject to the Rule. HIPAA compliance lawyer Barney Cohen works with healthcare providers to develop HIPAA privacy policies and procedures, as well as develop and implement compliance training programs for staff and medical personnel. Working with a HIPAA lawyer eliminates the confusion and frustration and is a proactive move to mitigate the inappropriate use or disclosure of protected health information (PHI). If Barney can help you, call him now for a free consultation at 312-804-1739 or send an email to: barney@conciergehealthcareattorneysllc.com
HIPAA Requirements
HIPAA requires appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy of personal health information and sets limits and conditions on the uses and disclosures of that information without patient authorization. The Rule also gives patients rights over their health information, including rights to examine and obtain a copy of their health records and to request corrections.
To comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule, covered entities must designate a HIPAA Privacy Officer to manage compliance efforts. Additionally, they are required to establish written HIPAA policies and procedures and ensure all employees receive training on these guidelines. Several documents must be prepared for physician practices, such as a Notice of HIPAA Privacy Practices, Business Associate Agreements, and HIPAA privacy and security policies and procedures. These documents should be drafted by or in consultation with an experienced HIPAA lawyer.
Common HIPAA Violations Leading to a PHI Breach
While hackers have made headlines for stealing PHI, medical practices should look internally rather than externally when protecting PHI. Nearly 58% of healthcare breaches involve practice employees. This highlights the need for comprehensive employee training, strict internal security measures, and regular audits to safeguard patient privacy and prevent costly data breaches. The most common HIPAA violations leading to a breach include:
- Employees improperly disclosing patient information: Unauthorized sharing of protected health information (PHI), intentional or accidental, can violate HIPAA rules. This includes discussing patient details with unauthorized individuals or failing to safeguard conversations.
- Mishandling of medical records: Physical and electronic records must be handled securely. Leaving files unattended, improperly disposing of documents, or failing to encrypt digital records can lead to unauthorized access.
- Losing devices containing electronic protected health information (ePHI): Mobile devices, laptops, and USB drives often contain sensitive patient data. Losing or misplacing these devices, especially if they are not encrypted, can result in significant breaches.
- There is a general lack of training about HIPAA Rules. Employees unaware of HIPAA requirements may inadvertently violate privacy standards. Comprehensive and regular training ensures all staff understand their responsibilities in protecting PHI.
The HITECH Act
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was enacted in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Its primary goal is to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (HIT) in healthcare settings. This landmark legislation aimed to improve the quality of care, reduce healthcare costs, and enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery by incentivizing healthcare providers to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) and related technologies. The HITECH Act has had a profound impact on the healthcare industry, leading to widespread adoption of EHRs. Here are some of the key provisions of HITECH:
- Incentives for EHR Adoption: The HITECH Act provides financial incentives to healthcare providers who demonstrate the meaningful use of EHRs. Providers who meet specific criteria, such as improving care coordination and increasing patient engagement, are eligible for significant reimbursement through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. These incentives are designed to accelerate the adoption of digital health records, which replace traditional paper-based systems.
- Meaningful Use Standards: To qualify for incentives, healthcare providers must meet certain meaningful use criteria. These standards require providers to use EHRs and demonstrate their ability to leverage these technologies to improve clinical practices, such as improving patient care outcomes, ensuring data privacy and security, and enhancing communication with patients.
- Expansion of Health Information Exchange (HIE): HITECH encourages the development of Health Information Exchanges—systems that enable healthcare providers to share patient information electronically. By promoting interoperability among different EHR systems, HITECH seeks to ensure that authorized healthcare providers across the continuum of care can access patient information.
- The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC): HITECH established the ONC, which plays a central role in promoting health IT adoption and effective use in law. The ONC provides resources, guidance, and technical assistance to healthcare providers and supports the development of standards for EHRs and other health IT systems to ensure they are interoperable and secure.
HITECH and HIPAA
The HITECH Act significantly reinforced HIPAA’s privacy and security provisions, particularly protecting electronic health information. One key change HITECH brought about was the expansion of responsibilities for healthcare providers, health plans, and their business associates (such as vendors and contractors) in safeguarding patient data. Under HIPAA, healthcare entities were already required to protect patient health information. Still, HITECH introduced additional requirements and accountability measures to ensure that these protections were effectively implemented, particularly in the context of electronic records. Healthcare organizations were now required to ensure stronger safeguards for their digital systems to prevent unauthorized access, data leaks, and cyberattacks.
A significant provision of the HITECH Act was the requirement for healthcare entities to notify individuals whose PHI was compromised in a data breach. Generally, a breach is an impermissible use or disclosure that compromises the privacy or security of PHI. This notification requirement applies when unsecured PHI is involved in a breach, and it mandates that affected individuals be informed of the breach promptly. This provision aims to ensure transparency and allow individuals to take necessary actions to protect themselves from potential identity theft, fraud, or other negative consequences of compromised data. The notification must typically occur within 60 days of discovering the breach, and it must include details about what information was compromised, the steps taken to address the breach, and what affected individuals can do to mitigate any harm. Most breach notifications must be provided without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days after the discovery. The Breach Notification Rule also requires notification from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and, in some cases, the media.
Furthermore, the HITECH Act significantly increased penalties for noncompliance with HIPAA’s privacy and security regulations. Before HITECH, penalties for HIPAA violations were relatively minimal. Still, the Act introduced a tiered penalty structure that escalated depending on the severity of the violation and the level of negligence involved. These enhanced penalties serve as a deterrent, encouraging healthcare organizations to adopt stricter security measures, conduct regular audits, and train their staff to handle and protect patient information. The penalties range from fines for unintentional violations to much larger penalties for willful neglect or violations that substantially harm individuals.
In addition to increasing penalties, the HITECH Act mandated regular audits of healthcare entities’ compliance with HIPAA’s security and privacy standards, further enhancing oversight and ensuring that healthcare organizations are held accountable for their practices. These audits are intended to identify potential weaknesses in security systems and ensure that all entities involved in handling health data comply with HIPAA regulations and adequately protect patient information from unauthorized access or breaches.
Keeping Your Healthcare Organization in Compliance
Physicians and healthcare providers can prevent unauthorized access or misuse of PHI by working with a HIPAA compliance lawyer to develop procedures and structure training. At Concierge Healthcare Attorneys, LLC, our healthcare lawyers can help you and your healthcare team develop HIPAA security and privacy compliance plans and procedures that outline how to respond to potential security or privacy violations best.
HIPAA and healthcare compliance training is critical because it can help your practice prevent breaches and outline the appropriate legal steps if a breach occurs. When you broaden HIPAA compliance knowledge across your practice, your team gains the ability to identify risks, resolve problems, and streamline processes so that your entire team can operate on best practices.
There are several things that HIPAA compliance training should cover, including:
- What is HIPAA compliance, and how does it apply to your practice?
- The responsibilities of “Covered Entities” and “Business Associates.”
- Patients’ right of access to PHI.
- How to protect against cyber threats and the basics of protecting ePHI, such as changing passwords regularly and logging off of devices when not in use.
- How to identify and report a potential breach of patient data.
We recommend that you work with a HIPAA lawyer for annual training for current staff and, within 90 days of employment, for new hires. HIPAA training should be a key part of employee onboarding.
It is imperative that HIPAA compliance training is documented. When it comes to documentation of HIPAA compliance training, you should be able to show which employees have undergone compliance training, what resources they used to complete the training, and when it was completed. This way, in the event of an audit, you can show that you have taken this step to prevent breaches. A certificate of completion showing who completed the training and when it was completed should be provided to each employee upon completion of training. We recommend that training programs end with a quiz to show that employees have retained the material.
Speak With A HIPAA Lawyer To Review Your Training Needs
As with most legal requirements, complying with HIPAA requires training and a thorough compliance program to prevent the likelihood of a breach or investigation. Concierge Healthcare Attorneys, LLC has a specific focus on healthcare law. We regularly work in this highly specialized area, understand the federal and state laws healthcare providers face, and appreciate how challenging compliance can be for medical professionals. Our HIPAA compliance lawyer, Barney Cohen, is ready to help you cost-consciously with all your HIPAA needs. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your practice anywhere in the United States.