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Focusing on HIPAA Compliance

August 23, 2021

Considering you're in healthcare, there is no doubt that you know what the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is. When was the last time you reviewed it with your team? We are here to remind you about the importance of educating and reviewing the rules and regulations with your team on an annual basis. We can help you do this with the help of the Optometric Success Center Learning Library at www.optometricsuccess.com. Here is a recap from the Focusing on HIPAA Compliance program that many providers and learners have reviewed from their access with the OSCL.  

HIPAA is the federal law that required the government to create nation-wide standards to protect Patient Health Information (PHI) from being disclosed unless the patient gave direct consent. Although HIPAA was signed into law in 1996, details of HIPAA were yet to be determined by Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. It has certainly come a long way from where it was at the beginning. The objectives of Focusing on HIPAA Compliance is to provide you (the learner) with the fundamentals of the HIPAA, educate you on the importance, discuss the consequences, and provide you with the initial knowledge to educate your team about protecting your patient's health information. As stated above, it's important to understand that an annual review of HIPAA is required by every healthcare employee, and the fundamentals and safeguards set within the law are crucial to protecting your practice and patient information.  

One of the main objectives of HIPAA was to allow for the electronic flow of full health care information while still providing a secure and confidential atmosphere to minimize threats and risks of a breach. 

Under the Privacy Rule, we may use and disclose PHI without patient written authorization for the purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations.  

  • Treatment is the provision, coordination, and/or management of a patient's condition through diagnostic testing, referral for services in another specialty, and consultations between providers.  
  • Payment refers to the activities of reimbursement for services, communication with insurers, or others involved in the reimbursement process. This area also includes eligibility verification, billing, and collections.  
  • Health care operations pertain to all other areas including quality assurance activities, competency activities, residency, and medical school programs, conducting audit programs for compliance, training programs for allied health as well as business planning and development to define a few. 

Following the program, your learner will join me for a live training session to ensure they understand the information within the courses and to review several different scenarios that we often come across in the optical industry. We refer to the U.S. Department of Health &Human Services website, at www.hhs.gov, to support the information provided within this program, which is available on the Optometric Success Center Learning website at www.optometricsuccess.com 

At Williams Group, we believe in the importance of keeping your team educated and enjoy helping providers along the path of creating success. Register for the Executive Management Program to begin working with an Executive Management Coach and to gain access to Focusing on HIPAA Compliance, and many other valuable programs, available in the OSCL today!

Want to know more about Focusing on HIPAA Compliance? Join our Executive Management Program.

Already a member? Access our course, Focusing on HIPAA Compliance, to learn more.

 

Michelle Bogeart

Executive Management Coach
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