9 Benefits of HIPAA Compliance Training

Cybercriminals and other malicious insiders use the confidential information contained in the Private Healthcare Information (PHI) to commit extortion, fraud, and theft. To combat security risks and threats, health care organizations should provide HIPAA compliance training to safeguard PHI and stay compliant with the HIPAA laws. Read on for nine more benefits of HIPAA compliance training.

1. It helps you meet legal obligations

It is mandatory for organizations that handle Protected Health Information, including hospitals, pharmacies, and urgent care facilities, to provide HIPAA compliance training. The law further dictates that organizations must record various aspects of the training, including employees’ names, training dates, the trainer’s signature, and proof of competency. Investing in HIPAA compliance training helps your organization meet legal requirements and convince officials that an incident of data loss is not a result of a lack of training.

2. Prevents costly fines

HIPAA violations can be detrimental to your organization’s finances. If your organization is found guilty of being non-compliant with HIPAA regulations, you could end up paying fines of up to $1,785,651. HIPAA compliance training reduces the chances of your healthcare workers and other employees failing to uphold the HIPAA protocols when dealing with private healthcare information, preventing violations and fines.

3. Better HIPAA compliance

Most HIPAA violations and threats result from employee negligence. Your employees may violate HIPAA laws accidentally through device loss, misinterpretation of access privileges, or data mismanagement. Providing HIPAA training and testing ensures your staff members and team understand the value of compliance and the possible fines and penalties of non-compliance, leading to improved compliance. The recorded training sessions also help your organization pass the regular compliance audits.

4. Protects against PHI loss

HIPAA training improves how your organization manages compliance. Through training, employees learn how to use secure applications, interpret access privileges, protect gadgets with multi-factor authentication, and avoid security breach risks, including phishing and malware. This reduces the chances of losing protected health organization information and putting your patients or sensitive data at risk.

5. Boosts awareness of patient well-being

Ensuring patients’ well-being is a priority for every healthcare worker. This makes health professionals strive to provide the best care for physical well-being. However, a patient’s well-being is not limited to physical health. Safeguarding patients’ sensitive data and information also play a crucial role in their overall health. HIPAA compliance training allows healthcare providers to learn how to correctly handle patient information and the impact of each interaction with their clients.

6. Improves patient and family satisfaction

With the increase in security breaches and cybercrimes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, patients pay more attention to how healthcare providers handle their personal information. In case of a security breach, family or patient often complain to the OCR, triggering audits to verify the validity of customer complaints. The staff is better equipped to handle PHI by providing HIPAA compliance training, and your customers take notice. This improves your organization’s credibility, builds trust, and reduces the chances of your customers seeking healthcare services elsewhere. Training employees on HIPAA compliance also reduces OCR audits and investigations drastically.

7. Prevents criminal penalties

The repercussions of a HIPAA violation go beyond a monetary fine. In some cases, failing to follow the HIPAA mandated protocols is termed a criminal offense, and one could face jail time. For instance, if an organization or employee obtains and uses private healthcare information for malicious intent or personal gain, they could face up to 10 years in prison. An unintentional HIPAA violation leads to a year in prison. Providing HIPAA compliance training makes employees aware of the various HIPAA violations, their penalties, and how to avoid them.

8. Reduces organizational and executive liability

HIPAA compliance training protects your patient’s private healthcare information, yourself, and the entity. Since HIPAA training is a requirement, the executives responsible for data security are found negligent in breach cases, primarily if they have not facilitated employee training. However, if your employees have been trained, the penalties levied for HIPAA non-compliance will be less severe.
9. Development of a patient safety culture

HIPAA compliance training helps healthcare workers understand that along with medication safety, infection control, and fall prevention, safeguarding PHI is another form of ensuring patient safety. This builds a culture where one employee’s misconduct when handling patient information is noticed and rectified by other staff members before compromising client safety.

Endnote

Avoiding HIPAA rules violations, fines and penalties should be a priority for every healthcare provider. Implement a HIPAA compliance training program today to fulfill legal requirements, develop a patient safety culture, minimize executive and organizational liabilities, prevent PHI loss, and improve family and patient satisfaction.

Read more information:
https://www.hipaaexams.com/

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Aurora, CO. 80011 USA

HIPAA is The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act enacted in 1996

This release was published on openPR.