HIPAA Certification

Reduce healthcare costs by standardising the transmission of financial and administrative transactions. To ensure that employees who change or lose their jobs continue to have health insurance coverage. All covered entities (healthcare providers, healthcare clearinghouses, and health plans) and their business associates, which include companies, individuals, and government agencies, must comply with HIPAA and complete a HIPAA release form.

Companies should be aware that no organization can "certify" HIPAA compliance because the federal body determining compliance, the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), and the Civil Rights Division (CRD), do not allow it.

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) does not recognize or endorse HIPAA certification by such organizations.

What is HIPAA Certification?

A one-time accreditation indicating that a company has passed a HIPAA compliance audit.

An acknowledgment that certain members of a company's workforce have acquired the level of HIPAA understanding required to comply with the organization's policies and guidelines.

Although there are no requirements in HIPAA for companies and/or their workforces to warrant compliance, obtaining a certification indicates that you have completed a training course that teaches you the provisions of HIPAA as well as the knowledge to apply it to your company.

HIPAA compliance does not end with certification; it is an ongoing process. Obtaining a HIPAA compliance certification today does not imply that you will be HIPAA-certified in the future. Security violations may still be discovered, so You should be aware of your legal obligations under the Act.

HIPAA does not have a standard provision requiring covered entities to obtain compliance certification. According to 164.308(a)(8), covered entities must conduct technical and non-technical assessments to determine how closely their security policies and procedures match the security requirements. Such assessments can be performed internally by covered entities or by third-party HIPAA certification firms.

Benefits of HIPAA Certification 

Certification of your workforce's HIPAA compliance has the following advantages:

• Less HIPAA violations and/or data breaches as a result of human error
• In the event of an OCR audit or inquiry, demonstrates an appropriate level of care to comply with HIPAA Rules.
• HIPAA certification promotes patient trust, supports promotions, and improves job prospects for employees.
• HIPAA violations result in a variety of sanctions, including written warnings and the loss of professional accreditation.

Requirements for HIPAA Certification 

Each type of organization must meet specific HIPAA requirements. We've created a HIPAA compliance checklist to highlight the key requirements:

• Compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule's physical, technical, and administrative safeguards, which include a physical site audit, asset, and device audit, IT risk analysis questionnaire, privacy standards audit, and security standards audit.
• Remediation plans to fill the gaps revealed by the audits mentioned above
• Policies and procedures for implementing and monitoring HIPAA regulatory compliance and documenting a "good faith" effort to become compliant
• Employee education on all important policies and procedures
• An audit of documentation to ensure that it is up to date
• Documentation required by HIPAA is available.
• Management of business associate agreements and processes for due diligence
• Procedures for managing incidents in the event of a data breach or a reportable HIPAA violation
• The time required to achieve HIPAA certification can be estimated based on the gaps discovered during the audit and the type of remediation plans developed to close them.

Cost of HIPAA Certification 

This will be determined by the size of a Covered Entity or Business Associate as well as the nature of its operations. For example, the cost of a third-party audit for a large healthcare organization will be significantly higher than the cost of a sole-trader insurance broker who handles a limited number of healthcare claims each year.

Why Should You Become HIPAA Compliant?

You may be wondering why you should bother obtaining HIPAA certification if it does not guarantee that you will always be compliant or that you will not be in violation of new rule updates.

• Companies must follow privacy guidelines and implement technical, administrative, and physical safeguards for the HIPAA Security Rule in order to become certified. This reduces the likelihood of data breaches and HIPAA violations, which in turn reduces patient grievances and OCR investigations.
• A HIPAA compliance certification confirms "reasonable care to abide by the HIPAA Rules" in the event of a HIPAA violation.
• It indicates an intent to comply for business associates and covered entities, making it mandatory.
• making it more appealing to clients and reducing the amount of due diligence required before a covered entity and a business associate enter into a business associate agreement.

How to get HIPAA Certification 

Our compliance experts are honored to assist our customers in meeting their HIPAA compliance objectives. We understand how perplexing and frustrating HIPAA compliance and other types of compliance can be, especially when you work in a small team or as a one-person department. We've been there, which is why we created Certvalue.

When you have all of your compliance tasks organized, automated, and working for you, you will be confident that you can demonstrate compliance at any time. We call it compliance confidence and believe us when we say it feels good. For more information about our company do visit www.Certvalue.com