You are aware that you must adhere to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act as a healthcare organisation or covered entity. But after hearing about businesses that earn the title of “HIPAA Certified” and display a badge to prove it, you might start to wonder if your company also needs to be certified.
Below is everything that you may want to know about HIPAA certification.
What is HIPAA Compliance Certification?
A healthcare organisation that has received HIPAA certification has been found to comply with the Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules of HIPAA.
Typically, this entails having your business audited by a third-party certification agency to determine whether your practises comply with HIPAA regulations.
You can formally become “HIPAA Certified” if they determine that you are in compliance, but there are some issues with this.
Do Healthcare Providers Need HIPAA Certification?
The answer is no, says the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). You are not required by any standard to certify your compliance.
However, you must routinely assess both the technical and non-technical facets of your HIPAA security procedures. This can be done internally or through a third-party “certification” provider.
When your organisation is scrutinized, a HIPAA certificate is useless (for example, during an Office for Civil Rights investigation). You will require more than just a piece of paper for an audit; you must show what you have done and are doing to abide by HIPAA regulations in everyday operations.
Should Business Associates Be HIPAA Certified?
Although a certification badge on a vendor may increase your trust that the vendor is compliant and can be trusted with your data, it does not imply that they are carrying out their commitments.
As a result, avoid selecting a vendor based solely on their “HIPAA Certified” designation. Always make sure they walk the walk by doing your research first.
This means that neither covered organisations nor their business partners need to be HIPAA certified. Individual employees are not required to obtain a HIPAA certification either. But everyone must abide by HIPAA regulations, including employees, business partners, and covered companies.
What Does It Take to Comply with HIPAA? There isn’t a formal procedure that allows businesses to comply, get a “HIPAA Certified” badge, and be done with it.
HIPAA compliance is a journey, not a destination. You must continuously assess and modify your processes to comply with the legislation because HIPAA has so many criteria and healthcare organisations and technologies are always evolving.