Understanding The Importance of HR’s Role in Ensuring HIPPA Compliance
Meeting HIPAA security compliance requirements begins with a security management solution one that enables real-time monitoring, compliance reporting and control management. The best route to compliance is the integration of existing people, processes, and policies with technology. Irrespective of the size of your organization or IT department, your IT staff may not be able to carry out effective HIPAA security compliance rule on its own. You will require HR specialists and personnel to assist you.
Regardless of the size of your organization or its IT Department, the IT staff will not be able to accomplish effective compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule on its own. Although HIPAA security compliance engages only the IT functions, it actually identifies numerous fundamental elements of the overall process, it can be accomplished in most organizations only with the participation of human resources and professionals. HR and benefits consultants have an important role to play. By understanding and fulfilling those roles, HR and benefits personnel can help to improve the security of electronic PHI and to protect their organization from potentially costly and embarrassing security incidents.
The HIPAA security standards make it essential to have written security policies and procedures, including those that cover personnel training and sanctions for security policy violations. Everyone must truly understand basic security logic and take their role in protecting patients’ privacy. Security breeches usually occur when insiders exercise faulty judgment or fail to follow protocols in which they’ve been trained. In most cases responding to security incidents often require the combined efforts of the IT and Human Resources Departments. Even as IT focuses mainly on technical solutions, HR usually aids in investigating the incident, and also in deciding whether and how to discipline employees implicated in the incident. They will also be responsible for documenting that decision may be called upon in situations when a security incident receives press attention.
For most employers, human resources and employee benefits consultants are exclusively responsible for negotiating business associate agreements and ensuring that plan documents are amended as necessary by the HIPAA Privacy Rule. As a result, responsibility for ensuring that these documents contain the additional amendments mandated by the HIPAA Security Rule also logically falls to HR and benefits consultants.
With a good human resource solution, HIPAA compliance measures can be implemented to not only simplify the administration of health insurance claims, but also help manage the costs associated with those claims through the use of national standards.
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