Since the internet took hold and ushered everyone into the digital age, electronic information exchange has become the norm. Pens, paper, and other forms of manual communication have nearly faded away. Where penmanship was once essential, keyboarding has now become a commonplace skill.
At this point, an estimated 2.5 quintillion gigabytes of information are created and exchanged every day. That number is only going to increase as humanity moves forward. With all that data being sent back and forth, security has become a major concern. Back at the beginning of the digital movement, authorities started taking measures to keep people’s information safe.
Digital Security in the Healthcare Field
Virtually all industries require enhanced levels of security at present. From e-commerce to banking, people’s sensitive information is readily available online for hackers to take advantage of. Finance and healthcare are particularly vulnerable to fraud. When it comes to the latter, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act comes into play.
With a great deal of private information being sent and received in the medical field, fax services for regulated industries are essential for keeping people’s data safe and private.
Remaining HIPAA Compliant in the Medical Sector
Having a compliance program in place is crucial for healthcare facilities. Law requires compliance, and it’s one of the keys to developing better patient care practices. Just like HIPAA Compliance offers a secure fax solution for businesses with enterprise-grade features. It also helps reduce the risks for medical facilities, their patients, insurance companies, and others involved in the treatment and billing processes.
Consider the following points to help your facility remain fully compliant without letting any essential aspects slip through the cracks.
Building a Comprehensive Compliance Team
One of the first and most important steps in improving and maintaining compliance is building a well-rounded team that will be dedicated to the cause. This team should consist of members from various departments in your facility, including upper management, accounting, patient care, and information management to name a few.
All these professionals will work together and approach compliance from a wide range of viewpoints. They’ll be in charge of developing and implementing your compliance plan.
Creating a Compliance Plan
All those people on your compliance team will create your plan, incorporating a list of practices that need improvement. They should become well-versed in all the HIPAA regulations that are in place. From there, they should examine your current practices and find ways of improving security, efficiency, and compliance.
Then, they’ll put your compliance plan into action and ensure it’s followed. They’ll also make sure everyone affected by the plan understands what’s expected of them.
Maintaining Your Compliance Measures
Along the way, your compliance team will monitor all the departments in your facility to guarantee everyone is adhering to the plan. Having an outside, unbiased auditor come in and assess the situation is recommended. This should take place regularly for optimal results. Otherwise, your team and employees may inadvertently stray from the plan and allow your compliance measures to slip.
With these measures, your healthcare facility can develop an effective compliance plan and continuously adhere to HIPAA regulations. Creating the plan and educating staff members on compliance regulations will take time and effort. It’s also an ongoing task that requires continuous monitoring and reinforcement.
Still, it’s a worthwhile endeavor to improve upon your current digital security while also ramping up the quality of care you provide to patients.
