How To Comply To HIPAA Management Solutions

By Nancy West


Healthcare institutions have files under their database that contains information regarding their patients. Administrative and management information are also stored in there. These are all confidential and should be protected against malicious intents. They should also comply with the HIPAA management solutions regulated to them.

This Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is under federal law. It primarily simplifies administration, keeps healthcare insurance records, secures electronic records, and protects healthcare information confidentiality. The right as to who can read their medical records is one of the rights of the patient embedded in this act.

A document management system is the software they need to comply with the law. This is installed in their system mainframe to help store, track, record, and manage pertinent information. It can handle large volumes and can help organize files. The system allows easy retrieval of searched information because it is a document repository.

Additional features, on top of those already included in the management system, are required by this law. User authentication would ensure that only allowed and authorized personnel have access to private information. The system needs to be secure enough to prevent prohibited access from occurring. Multi factor authentication can help in securing it more by sending a temporary security code. This also minimizes the occurrence of cyber attacks.

To help in achieving this, they need an installation of electronic security systems. Cyber security tools and firewalls are such systems. An operating system comes along with it which has a pre installed anti virus and anti spyware software. Sensitive information on administration and patient is ensured to be kept from malicious hands. To maximize this security, it regularly needs updates to have additional information comprehensive enough to include current details on cyber attacks.

Information should be arranged and grouped according to their sensitivity and importance. Benign and common information does not need security locks and encryption that much unlike others. Each confidential data are to be assigned a security level. This ensures that only authorized people can access a certain level in the system.

Encryption means translating and encoding information that only authorized people can access and read. The cryptographic algorithm translates the plain text into a jumble of numbers and letters that is impossible to read by those unauthorized. It would be better if they can get a systems software with a higher bit of encryption to increase impossibility of breach.

This act requires their records to be honest and transparent. There is an embedded audit trail in the system which will let them know who viewed the file. Only those authorized can update and change any information in them. The modification of security levels and authorized people is under jurisdiction of the system administrator with the commendation of upper management.

They also need to have plans for backup and recovery in case there are unforeseen events. It may either be due to cyber attacks, software problems, or natural calamities. Their provider, who is an act compliant, has an off site center to store their back up files. In case system failure occurs in that center, the provider has a backup of that stored.




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