Does HIPAA Compliance Apply to Your Business?

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It is vital that health care providers and professionals in healthcare IT understand HIPAA compliance, which ensures the security and privacy of protected health information (PHI). Other industries may also need to be HIPAA compliant, according to the judgment of Retail Insights, LLC. Actionable consumer insights are available through Retail Insights, which extracts a massive amount of data analytics from Point of Sale (POS) machines used by the company’s subscribers.

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What Does HIPAA Compliance Involve?

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HIPAA compliance is a defined set of industry standards that must be implemented by health care professionals and their vendors. For example, the two most critical of the HIPAA Rules are the HIPAA Security Rule and the HIPAA Privacy Rule. An effective compliance program must be established according to precise guidelines involving steps to create, deploy, and test HIPAA compliance.

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Three components that healthcare providers and their vendors are required to address are administrative, technical, and physical, as follows:

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• Administrative safeguards are related to creating and maintaining policies, documentation, procedures, and training of the staff. 
• Technical safeguards lay out the procedure for implementing the infrastructure of the network. This involves data encryption, data back-up, firewalls, and protection against malware.
• Physical safeguards include alarm systems and locks as well as access involving card-keys or, for larger companies, role-based access.

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Compliance and Security are Required

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HIPAA compliance means the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of a patient’s PHI are protected by following mandated guidelines for security. HIPAA compliance and security are inextricably linked.

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Contact Aperio IT to learn more about HIPAA compliance for your business.