Advancement in technology has fostered dramatic changes in all sectors of the economy, and the healthcare sector is not an exception. Thanks to AI and automation, the healthcare sector can now say goodbye to repetitive, time-consuming, and mundane tasks. Hence, patients’ care and quality medical services become a top priority and importance.
However, the integration of AI and automation of the healthcare sector isn’t limited to just performing repetitive tasks and streamlining tedious routines. In most cases, automation becomes the medical staff’s helping hand in organizing patients’ data and transmitting information remotely and instantly.
Nevertheless, healthcare companies mustn’t get carried away by the vast potential of automation in the healthcare industry. It is important to remain compliant with essential data regulations and restrictions. The reason for these regulations? Healthcare data are susceptible and delicate; hence, the reason to protect them against hackers and cyberpunks. Therefore, there are severe consequences for not following up on these regulations and doing things wrong with the data.
Today, one of the vital regulations every healthcare company must stay compliant with is HIPAA. And lucky enough, a perfectly integrated robotic process automation can help protect health data and create HIPAA-compliant workflows within the healthcare sector.
HIPAA compliance and what does it mean
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 otherwise known as HIPAA is a United States legislation that provides regulations for how healthcare companies secure and manages Protected Health Information (PHI) and patient data. It is a sequence of standards that oversee the disclosure and use of Protected Health Information.
Healthcare organizations and vendors like medical device companies, SaaS solutions, and health tech companies must implement all HIPAA measures to be certified HIPAA compliant and work with patient information and data.
What is Protected Health Information?
Protected Health Information (PHI) is demographic health data established, collected, stored, or delivered by HIPAA-covered organizations and their business associates concerning the outlay of patient care, healthcare policies, and expenses for healthcare services.
PHI consists of previous, present, and even prospective health information about a patient’s medical conditions (both physical and mental health). This health information can be delivered in electronic, spoken, and material forms.
The PHI also includes health histories, health records, medical bills, lab test results, and demographic information like patients’ names, phone numbers, addresses, phone numbers, financial information, Social Security number, photos of the face, medical records, and so on.
Ensuring the confidentiality of this Protected health information is key, and to do that, HIPAA-covered organizations will have to put in place administrative, technical, and physical measures as stipulated by the HIPAA Security Rule.
What are the primary HIPAA compliance rules?
The HIPAA regulation consists of various types of HIPAA rules, and these include;
The HIPAA Compliance Privacy Rule
The privacy rule outlines the criteria for patients’ rights to Protected Health Information. Some privacy rule criteria include healthcare providers’ rights to deny access to PHI, patients’ right to access PHI, the contents of Notices of Privacy Practices, and so on.
Every one of these criteria ideally should be documented and stored in the company’s HIPAA procedures and policies, and the company’s employees should be educated on these criteria every year.
The HIPAA Compliance Security Rule
The security rule outlines the criteria for the safe handling, transmitting, and maintaining electronic PHI. The security rule applies to both covered organizations and business associates. Like the privacy rule, ideally, these criteria should be documented and stored in the company’s HIPAA procedures and policies. The company’s employees should be educated on these criteria every year.
The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule
The breach notification rule outlines the criteria that apply to covered organizations and business associates in case of a data breach where ePHI and PHI are concerned. Healthcare companies are mandated to report and document both types of violations.
The HIPAA Omnibus Rule
In 2013, the Omnibus rule established the most important modifications to the