It is not a secret, that every healthcare organization or provider thought of getting HIPAA Certification at least once. But after starting to study the topic in detail, it appears that it is not so clear. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, it is not required to get a certification to prove your compliance.
There is a lot of confusion around this topic. For example, there is a widespread misconception, that the HIPAA Certification allows healthcare organizations not to pass the HIPAA Audit. Actually, it doesn’t discharge any covered entity from passing controls and audits. But it still doesn’t change the fact that it is important for healthcare providers and organizations, covered entities (CEs), and business associates (BAs) to get the certification from the third parties proving that they are HIPAA-compliant. So, let’s figure out what is HIPAA Certification and why it is important!
Brief Information about the HIPAA Certification
We’ve highlighted the words ‘from the third parties’ in the previous paragraph not in vain. HIPAA Certification actually is a service, which aims to prove that your organization is HIPAA-compliant. This type of certification can be of different forms. For example, it can be in a form of a short seminar or training for team members or an assessment of your organization’s compliance with different HIPAA requirements and rules, such as the Privacy and Security Rules. As we’ve mentioned before, HIPAA Compliance Certification is not a legal requirement under the HIPAA. And it doesn’t cancel your duty to maintain compliance with demands mentioned in the HIPAA Rules further.
Yes, the HIPAA Certification is not an obligatory procedure according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). But under the Security Rule sometimes it is necessary for covered entities (CEs) to maintain the assessment of their HIPAA compliance and cybersecurity processes and methods efficiency. Making this estimation independently doesn’t fall under the requirements. It is possible to outsource those responsibilities. Under the Security Rule, it is also vital to maintain HIPAA training and education for all team members. If this process is held externally, the type of education for employees, where they can get certificates at the end is a good choice. Third-party HIPAA Certification providers can help you with all these purposes.
Reasons for Getting HIPAA Certification and Its Privileges
We want to highlight this one more time. HIPAA Certification is not necessary for healthcare providers and organizations under the HIPAA. But obviously, a team member with a certification has a better chance to keep up with HIPAA rules in a more appropriate way than a non-certified one. So, here are some reasons for getting the HIPAA Compliance Certificate from a third-party organization:
Compliance Assessment and Team Education from the Outside
As mentioned earlier, under the HIPAA Security Rule it’s important to make a periodic evaluation of your organization’s compliance and train your workforce. You should document the estimation and training, so you can show these documents while the HIPAA audit. But sometimes healthcare organizations don’t have the possibility to maintain these processes alone. So, this is what a third-party HIPAA Certification provider can do for you. This step will save a lot of resources for your team.
The Guarantee of In-House Processes Efficiency
It is vitally to estimate that all your methods and standards of holding on to the HIPAA are effective and up to date. Of course, it is hard to evaluate this on your own. Thus, sometimes it is necessary to have “fresh eyes” on the business processes from the outside. In this case, it makes sense to use the services of HIPAA Certification from outsourcing.
The Enhance Credibility for the Patient’s Side
The HIPAA Certification will surely raise the level of your organization in the eyes of patients, compared to other non-certified ones. It can ensure patients, that their PHI and ePHI will be stored securely. It also concerns healthcare specialists, that are looking for employment in the medical sphere. The HIPAA Compliance Certificate will give them higher chances in the competition for the vacant position. But if your organization provides software for ePHI operations, such as transmission, storing, editing, etc., it’s better to focus on the cybersecurity standards than on the HIPAA Certification.
Demands for the HIPAA Certification
Requirements from the third-party HIPAA Certification providers are different for covered entities (CEs), business associates (BAs), and employees of the healthcare organizations. Let’s take a look at them.
Covered Entities HIPAA Certification Demands
The HIPAA Compliance Certificate from third-party providers must assess seven matters related to compliance in your healthcare organization:
- Keeping up with administrative, technical, and physical guarantees of the HIPAA Security Rule. It involves auditing assets and devices, a survey of IT risks examination, audit of a physical website, security and privacy standards assessment, and HITECH Subtitle D privacy control.
- Recovery plans after errors detected in controls and assessments mentioned above.
- HIPAA compliance procedures and policies and documentation of compliance efforts.
- The program of team education that involves understanding these policies and procedures.
- The documentation audit ensures that documents are regularly updated and free to access.
- Business associates (BAs) agreement administering and procedures of proper checking.
- Incidents administering procedures, when a notifiable HIPAA violation or data breach happens.
Due to the HIPAA Security Requirements control, demands for gaining the certification can’t be completed in one day. It is impossible to say an approximate time limit for getting the HIPAA Certification. As it is hard to foresee possible voids while the audit and the nature of needed recovery plans.
Business Associates HIPAA Certification Demands
Demands to BAs and CEs don’t differ so much. The only difference is that requirements for business associates (BAs) are adapted to the type of services they provide under the agreement. Usually, BAs gain the HIPAA Certification to prove that their products, policies, services, and procedures are HIPAA-compliant. This control of BAs from the third parties is valuable for CEs because it proves HIPAA compliance when conducting control.
There are also business associates (BAs), who aren’t familiar with the wide-ranging difficulties of the HIPAA compliance process. They just need help to become HIPAA-compliant. In this case, it makes sense for BAs to make sure, that they choose a third-party organization, that provides not only certification services but also proper support and implementation of HIPAA compliance realization programs assistance.
Healthcare Specialists HIPAA Certification Demands
The HIPAA Certification of a healthcare worker from the third party is a kind of confirmation, that this employee has passed the HIPAA training defined in the HIPAA Security Rule. It means, that all voids in employees’ knowledge are fulfilled. So, it’s a great variant for healthcare organizations with limited resources. It is a great opportunity for team members not only to get knowledge of HIPAA within the context of their organization’s policies and procedures but also to expand it and get a better in-depth understanding of confidentiality and security.
So, healthcare workers can get a broad knowledge of HIPAA rules and standards. The HIPAA Compliance Certificate guarantees, that these employees will avoid HIPAA violations caused by the lack of theoretical and practical knowledge.
Conclusion
The topic of HIPAA Certification is really interesting and not as ambiguous as it may appear at the first sight. It doesn’t release covered entities (CEs), business associates (BAs), and employees in the healthcare sphere from audits and penalties in the case of data breaches and HIPAA violations. But it has a range of privileges. With this certificate, you can prove that your company or services are HIPAA-compliant. It will ensure your clients and patients, that their PHI and ePHI are in safety and your workers obtain high HIPAA skills. And also it is a very resource-friendly solution for those, who are not ready to control all aspects of HIPAA Compliance in the organization on their own.
It’s absolutely up to every healthcare organization or provider whether to gain such certification or not. But, as you can see, with the help of it your services may achieve a new level.
If you still have questing regarding the HIPAA Certification process, don’t hesitate to contact us.
