The complex HIPAA Compliance law was enacted to ensure companies and or their business associates who deal with protected health information are protecting patient data, as well as the integrity of the medical practices. While some may find HIPAA compliance to be cumbersome, others find it downright dreadful. Let’s look at a few important reasons why HIPAA Compliance is crucial for a successful medical practice today:
- Non-Compliance can be costly
Many times HIPAA violations stem from a poor understanding of the constitution rather than malicious intent. This results in expensive lawsuits and penalties. With recent reforms, the sanctions for HIPAA non-compliance can span from $100 to $50,000 per violation to a maximum of $1.5 million per year depending on the severity and level of negligence. With recent breaches by hackers and thieves, technology has proven to be vulnerable. Furthermore, resolving the problem can require staff to put in extra hours contacting a large percentage of the sufferers from the patient database. The loss of protected health information may even be costlier than the practice can afford.
- Patient transparency is driven by HIPAA Compliance
Patient trust is at the heart of a successful medical practice. When patients trust healthcare providers to keep their information safe and confidential, they are more likely to share sensitive health-related concerns. For instance, concerns related to substance abuse, mental health, or reproduction, and more. Privacy is an important element in a patient-provider relationship. Doctor’s need to be sure that patients feel reassured and confident about being more outspoken and honest to provide the maximum level of quality delivery care.
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- Research says privacy enhances personal and societal values
Emphasizing the importance of how basic human rights and patient privacy go hand in hand, a study was published in 2009, “Beyond the HIPAA Privacy Rule: Enhancing Privacy, Improving Health through Research”. It is a very widespread favorite public opinion that privacy aids other elementary values, which includes:
- Individual’s distinctiveness
- Dignity and respect
- The freedom to make personal health choices
To gain societal as well as personal value, privacy is a key component in a free society.
- Providers goodwill depends on it
Apart from monetary values, being HIPAA compliant can bring more goodwill. When providers fail to comply or are unable to uphold it, non-monetary values like reputation and patient trust can be hampered along the way.
Think about the resources you have to put in to contact various patients when there’s a security breach. Not to mention, you will lose the patient’s trust and the accumulated brand value in the process. As a result, it can also force the providers to pay in many other ways.
To prevent this, it is crucial to set a minimum benchmark of standards for HIPAA Compliance. After that, all the medical providers, staff, and the patients they serve should be fully aware, educated and informed regarding HIPAA Compliance. By doing so, providers can boost their goodwill by showing they care about human privacy, dignity and the freedom for individuals to make their own decisions. It also goes to show that the provider is willing to go to great lengths to protect these qualities.
- HIPAA Compliance management is mandatory
There is no other alternative to HIPAA compliance for medical practices and their business associates today. If anything, the rules and enforcement of HIPAA have become more thorough nowadays. One violation can lead to the investigation of another and as a result healthcare providers end up paying hefty amounts in penalties. Also, with the media being so dominant today, it is important to be careful of violations and transgressions or face widespread public criticism.
You might also like to read: HOW DO YOU BECOME HIPAA COMPLIANT?
Take assistance if necessary because HIPAA is important
A HIPAA Compliance software can help you streamline several activities while making sure you remain HIPAA compliant. HIPAA Ready understands the needs of covered entities and its business associates, that to protect patients and achieve quality in care they have to work together.
From a lack of proper knowledge to basic training on HIPAA, many healthcare providers feel that it is time-consuming and intimidating.
With this understanding, the robust application was designed to simplify the HIPAA Compliance management process by including a digital checklist of tasks, action plans, meetings, and training information. In short, to make lives easier all HIPAA Compliance management related information can be found in one place where you can compare and evaluate the risks yourself.
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