HIPAA Compliance Training: What Are My Options?

Do you need to train your employees for HIPAA compliance?

Are you looking for the best HIPAA compliance training program to make sure that patient data is handled safely?

In our modern healthcare world, patient security is more important than ever. The government has mandated special training for any employees handling patient data to make sure that there are no breaches of trust.

HIPAA compliance officer training programs often provide security training on everything from file storage to patient rights. In this article, we will walk you through everything you need to know to help your employees meet standards. Read on and we'll discuss the ins and outs of the best training available today.

What Is HIPAA?

HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability Act of 1996.

This legislation became a national guideline inked as federal law. The goal was to protect sensitive patient information.

In comparison to other national privacy laws, HIPAA is somewhat unique. Compared to its Canadian counterpart, for example, it specifically covers health information.

The law prevents patient health information from irresponsible transmission.

The information cannot change hands without the patient knowing or providing their consent.

The United States government's Health and Human Services Division also created the HIPAA Privacy Rule. This Rule helps enforce the standards of the act.

Additionally, there is a HIPAA Security Rule. The Security Rule provides certain standards of information covered under the Privacy Rule.

What Are the HIPAA Compliance Training Requirements?

HIPAA applies to a wide variety of covered entities (CEs)and business associates (BAs).

Training is strictly mandatory for CEs and BAs working with PHI. HIPAA legislation includes a written provision that training must be provided. Official legislation describes it as "as necessary and appropriate for members of the workforce to carry out their functions."

The definition of who must complete HIPAA training is relatively broad. According to the legislation, "workforce members include employees, volunteers, trainees, and may also include other persons."

Additionally, administrative teams for covered entities "must have and apply appropriate sanctions" to address violations or breaches of security. There must be standardized disciplinary protocols in place for a covered entity to be compliant with the law.

Therefore, choosing quality training for employees is not only of paramount importance, but it is also a legal requirement. The challenge is that the Privacy Law does not stipulate exactly the type of material that needs to be covered in training courses. While many training materials cover similar data handling practices, there is not one unified syllabus of material to be covered.

How Often Is HIPAA Training Required?

Again, this is a somewhat gray area. According to the HIPAA Security Rule, the answer is "periodically."

The de facto rule is to train employees annually. It is best practice to provide a HIPAA refresher every year to meet the standard of most healthcare organizations and hospitals.

So, What Are My Training Options?

As discussed above, businesses dealing with sensitive patient health information need to be prepared. Standards and enforcement teams need to be clearly outlined and developed to train all employees handling this data.

Fortunately, there is a multitude of training programs available. We believe Compliance Training Online provides the best training available for the ongoing education of employees. If you want to prevent security breaches, partnering with this program is a great way to establish company training policies.

Compliance Training Online

Compliance Training Online is the highest-rated and most trusted HIPAA compliance program available. Since 2008, the company has provided specialized programs in a variety of compliance settings. These include many other programs beyond HIPAA, including Cal/OSHA, OSHA, DOT HAZMAT, EEOC, EPA, HAZWOPER, IMO, and other safety standards and regulations.

You can leverage this experience as a business owner. They have extensive feedback and research from compliance training in other industries. They apply this to their training program for HIPAA and you are left with the best training on the market.

The training includes specific modules geared toward teaching what types of PHI need to be protected. The course explains how to handle this data sensitively depending on the trainee's role.

Users will learn about key terms and regulations, how to identify and dispose of PHI appropriately, potential consequences of noncompliance, including civil and criminal penalties, and how to develop a plan to ensure their compliance.

The end goal is to train employees to protect patient confidentiality while also protecting the individual and covered entity from episodes of non-compliance with security regulations.

Advantages

Over 30,000 government organizations, companies, and universities have chosen Compliance Training online.

The course is updated as soon as new regulations come out, and aims to be convenient to the end-user. The training is fast, easy to use, and available to employees anytime, anywhere. Users can expect to spend approximately 2 hours completing the program.

Individual training costs $39.95. However, the company's pricing system offers a discount to entities purchasing training for a large number of employees.

If you are looking for the best overall program for training employees, stop here. It's hard to beat the HIPAA program from Compliance Training Online.

HIPAA Compliance Training: The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, there are many HIPAA compliance training programs to help your business meet federal requirements. You can opt for individual, online, or group training to meet the needs of your organization.

If you are looking for top-tier training that is painless and effective for employees, look no further. At Compliance Training Online, we offer the best HIPAA training available. If you are interested in learning more about our offerings, please contact us today.