What Are the Most Common Causes of HIPAA Fines?

In 1996, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was created. The aim of this law is to protect patient information.

For instance, it stops your information from being shared without patient knowledge. However, in some cases, you may receive HIPAA fines for breaking healthcare regulations.

To be able to follow HIPAA compliance, you need to know what to avoid through HIPAA training. And learning about common reasons for fines.

Thankfully, this article will help clarify HIPAA regulations. So you won't have an unexpected fine.

Keep reading to discover all about HIPPA compliance.

What Is HIPAA?

It's essential that healthcare data is safe and that private details are secure. Companies that deal with protected health information (PHI) must follow HIPAA guidelines carefully.

As well as companies the same rule also applies to covered entities. For example, anyone providing treatment, processing payments, and other jobs in healthcare.

Plus, subcontractors that interact with healthcare information must also follow HIPAA regulations.

Not only is HIPPA important for healthcare providers, but it's vital for patients too.

Why HIPAA Is Important for Organizations

One benefit of HIPPA for organizations is to improve the administrative process for everyday tasks. For example, you need to handle a constant amount of paperwork. The guidelines can help your track things.

HIPAA regulations will also enhance the efficiency of a healthcare organization so you can provide a better customer experience.

Plus, private information is protected from others. This makes patients feel more comfortable and safe using your service.

Once you fill out the correct HIPAA information, it needs to be processed by recognized professionals. That way, this system speeds up the process of sharing electronic health information.

Benefits for Patients

A great advantage of HIPPA regulations is that they allow patients more control over their private health information. For instance, you can ask for copies of your medical records for your own use.

When you have access to your healthcare information, you can also request data if you're looking for a new medical professional.

Instead of signing up for a new doctor with no records, you can ensure your healthcare professionals have up-to-date information on your medical history.

So, if you have to get treatment for a condition, it's crucial that you have the right resources to receive the care you need. Before HIPAA, there was no way to get individual healthcare records.

Therefore, this new regulation gives patients more control over their private data than ever before.

Common Reasons for HIPAA Fines

Although HIPAA regulations protect organizations and patients, mistakes can happen that lead to fines and broken trust between providers and their customers.

The first common reason for HIPAA fines is missing devices.

Stolen Devices

When a technical device is missing, it can cause damage to an organization's reputation and lead to unwanted exposure to healthcare data. Most of the time, a lot of health records are kept online.

So, if the device that stores your data is missing, it breaks HIPAA privacy regulations.

Depending on the device, you can minimize the theft risk by placing the information on a protected computer instead of a phone or tablet. Typically, people take mobile phones everywhere they go.

Therefore, you won't be worried about accidentally leaving a device in public places, and your patient's data will be protected.

Poor Training

Training is essential when following strict guidelines for HIPAA as it allows you to identify the correct practices for handling information.

Plus, you can learn to manage different platforms.

It's common for organizations to skip over HIPAA training as it's time-consuming and thorough. This makes it easy to overlook it in your schedule.

To ensure that you don't get HIPAA fines, you should make time for training so there's no small detail that's missed and all employees are prepared for their job.

Sharing Outside of Work

Some people are more interested in gossiping than others, but if you aren't careful, you can receive a HIPAA fine for sharing information outside of work.

Similar to a courtroom, information is protected by law, and you can't share it with people outside of the group of professionals you're working with.

Although it's normal to talk about medical diagnoses among healthcare professionals, it violates HIPAA guidelines to share that data outside of your work environment.

Not Deleting Information Correctly

You need to delete information for patients if they are no longer signed up with your organization. Sometimes, when guidelines state that you need to remove data.

If you don't dispose of information properly, you'll expose patient data to fraud or theft. In the technical world, many loopholes can leave online information at risk.

When you go through the training for HIPAA regulations, you'll learn how to delete data, so it's not exposed. This will change depending on how you store records.

For instance, if you have paper copies of health records, you must destroy them. This will leave no trace of patient information. The same rule applies to electronic data.

Overall, you must follow the HIPAA guidelines cautiously so your patient's information is always protected.

Our compliance course will ensure you're prepared for HIPAA regulations and won't receive fines in the future. You can find all the information you need on our website, where we outline our courses.

You can click here to visit our website.

Avoid HIPAA Fines With the Right Training

HIPAA fines can be easily avoided with the right training, practices, and personal habits. Even though you can't control mistakes like leaving your phone on a train or not exiting your desktop at work.

There are some tips for liming the risk of violations, such as removing the information correctly and asking for help from an experienced professional.

Our courses are a great place to start when learning about compliance standards and how to implement them in your organizations.

We also offer courses in other industries and regulations so you can take multiple programs in various fields.

Contact us to learn more about HIPAA and how to avoid fines.