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Stethoscope lying on medical forms and clipboards

HIPAA Compliance Checklist: A Simple Guide to Successful Data Security

Data breaches can be incredibly costly for businesses, both in terms of money lost and the damage to a company’s reputation. In order to protect your business from costly data breaches, ensure that you’ve implemented adequate security measures and are compliant with HIPAA regulations. 

A HIPAA compliance checklist can give you assurance that your business is taking the necessary steps to secure your data, protecting your practice from litigation and your patients from cybercriminals.

There have been over 4,000 instances of 500+ page medical records compromised by data breaches between 2009 and 2021, exposing sensitive health and personal information. A HIPAA compliance checklist helps reduce the risk of a data breach by making sure your organization is meeting all the requirements of the law. Completing a checklist that evaluates processes and regularly will help you protect your patients’ data and keep your business running smoothly.

What Does HIPAA Compliance Look Like, and Why Does It Matter?

HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is a set of regulations that ensures the security and privacy of patient data. Businesses that handle protected health information (PHI) must comply with HIPAA regulations in order to protect patients’ data from being mishandled or stolen.

HIPAA compliance matters because it helps protect patients’ privacy and keeps their data safe, a fundamental factor to overall patient care. Businesses that are not compliant with HIPAA may be subject to fines, and patients whose data has been compromised may file a lawsuit against the business. 

In 2021, fine amounts for violating regulations reached close to $6,000,000. Implementing a HIPAA compliance checklist can help businesses avoid truly devastating data breaches and protect their reputation and finances.

Which Companies Would Benefit From a HIPAA Compliance Checklist?

Any type of business that handles PHI must comply with HIPAA regulations in order to protect patients’ data from being mishandled or stolen. This includes businesses beyond healthcare companies, such as law firms, cloud service providers, and accounting firms. These businesses would benefit from the security that comes from having a HIPAA compliance checklist.

Which Items Should You Include in Your Checklist?

Your checklist can be very useful if it includes the right information for verifying and assessing the regulatory information. Some of the elements of the checklist could include the following:

  • Have you performed all of the necessary security assessments?
  • Have you recorded all of the areas that need improvement?
  • Have your employees been sufficiently trained on HIPAA regulations?
  • Do only necessary employees have access to PHI documents?
  • Have you created a risk management and recovery plan?
  • Do you have established guidelines for handling and disposing of sensitive records that are no longer in use?
  • Is there a system in place to track and manage HIPAA violations?

Get Your HIPAA Compliance Certification with Envision Consulting

Making sure that your company is HIPAA compliant is essential for protecting the sensitive client and patient information you’re entrusted with. But after all the work you’ve put into being compliant, you want something to show for it! Envision Consulting offers a HIPAA compliance certification that can prove to insurance companies and patients that your business is maintaining the required standards.

The certification process can take less than a year (depending on the size of your business), and our team of experts is available to assess your current system and determine what adjustments are needed to comply. Contact our office today to find out more about how you can become certified.

Envision Consulting

Envision Consulting

We started Envision Consulting for businesses that share our passion for building long- term and healthy relationships. While we might be technology experts, we’ve always known that trust, reliability and looking after a client’s best interest are paramount to succeeding in business. But in 2001 and to this day, there were few managed IT providers available that embodied our customer-centric values. There were countless support companies more interested in reacting to issues than paving the road forward for clients, making it far too difficult to build long-term relationships. We felt a strong pull to make something different, and we did.