The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law designed to safeguard patients’ information in the United States. It was enacted in 1996 to set standards to protect patients’ sensitive information. One of the ways to protect patient information is to have HIPAA compliant emails. A HIPAA-compliant email should be encrypted, have access control, and have an audit trail. Below are entities that are mandated to comply with HIPAA:
Healthcare Providers
Healthcare providers include professionals and institutions that deliver medical services. They include:
- Doctors and physicians
- Hospitals and medical clinics
- Psychologists and therapists
- Dentists and orthodontists
- Chiropractors
- Long-term care facilities and nursing homes
- Pharmacies
These healthcare providers collect patient data during treatment. This data is collected during patient onboarding, consultation, and through the electronic health records system. The data includes personal information, medical history, diagnosis results, treatment plans, and billing information. HIPAA mandates that this data be stored and transmitted with confidentiality and integrity.
Health Plans
This refers to entities that provide or pay for medical care. They include health insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, and employer-sponsored and government-sponsored health plans.
These entities collect patient data to determine eligibility for coverage, process claims, and administer benefits. For coordinated care, healthcare providers share patient data within the network. This data is for enrolling individuals in the plan and disbursing reimbursements for covered services.
Healthcare Clearinghouses
These entities process nonstandard health information from other health entities into a standard format. They include billing services, claim processing companies, and healthcare information exchanges.
Healthcare clearinghouses handle data such as patient demographics, medical claims, billing information, and clinical records. They provide value-added services such as data validation, error correction, and electronic fund transfers. Clearinghouses employ access control, encryption techniques, and audit trails to safeguard data during transmission and storage to maintain HIPAA compliance.
Business Associates
These individuals or organizations carry out specific tasks or services for a covered entity involving the use or sharing of protected health information. Business associates include third-party vendors, consultants and contractors, cloud service providers, medical transcriptionists, and data processing firms.
These entities handle various aspects of protected health information, such as storage, transmission, analysis, and processing, on behalf of covered entities. Under HIPAA, business associates are to uphold the same standards of protecting health information as covered entities. They are required to implement appropriate standards to safeguard protected health information. This includes administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information.
HIPAA Compliance Importance
HIPAA compliance is a mandatory legal requirement. Failure to comply with HIPAA regulations can result in severe penalties, including fines, legal action, and damage to an organization’s reputation. Maintaining HIPAA compliance helps foster confidentiality and integrity. This strengthens the trust between healthcare providers and their patients.
Seeking a HIPAA Compliant Email Service Provider
Understanding who must comply with HIPAA and the importance of compliance in an organization can help mitigate risk and uphold patient trust in the integrity of the healthcare system. Contact HIPAA compliant email service providers today for more information.