The Health care coverage Transportability and Responsibility Act (HIPAA) was passed by Congress in 1996. The purpose of this law was to protect personal/protected health information (PHI) stored in computer databases of hospitals and other healthcare facilities. It was created in response to the numerous data breaches by hackers who stole PHI.
HIPAA regulations require all companies that interact with PHI or electronic PHI to comply with standards and regulations. That means you can't operate a business that supports PHI if you don't meet HIPAA requirements.For example, if you started a medical transcription processing business in 2015, you can no longer serve a healthcare facility if you fail to comply with HIPAA. Here's how you can capitalize on new business opportunities by being HIPAA compliant.
1. HIPAA Covered Businesses
There are two main types of businesses that are subject to HIPAA rules and regulations. The first is called "Covered Entities" or "Covered Institutions".These are companies and institutions that belong to the medical sector. This category includes hospitals, healthcare facilities, healthcare professionals, clinics, health insurance companies, pre-employment testing clinics, and other entities that process electronically protected health information (ePHI).
However, there is a second category of companies that may not be involved in healthcare but are subject to HIPAA regulations if they have businesses and operations that would include ePHI support. Any company that engages in PHI as part of its contractual obligations or transactions with a covered company is referred to as a “company in business”. Under HIPAA regulations, business partners are required to comply with the same HIPAA regulations and standards.
2. Make sure that your organization is HIPAA agreeable.
If you are interested in pursuing new business opportunities with companies and institutions that are subject to HIPAA regulations, you must ensure that your company meets the standards and regulations required by HIPAA regulations. Covered Businesses will not work with you if your business does not meet HIPAA standards at all. There were a few rules for you to adhere to:
- Privacy Rule - You need to make sure you can protect patient data, known as PHI, from a possible information breach due to a security breach or threat.
- Security Principle - You must ensure that your organization can protect PHI by providing administrative, physical, and technical safeguards.You should also conduct regular risk assessments and audits to ensure you have identified any foreseeable vulnerabilities in your network and security infrastructure.
3. Demonstrate your HIPAA
Skills to potential customers. Once your business management systems, network security, and network infrastructure are compliant with HIPAA standards and regulations, you can begin marketing your business services to potential customers.
Please note that affected companies and their business partners strive to comply with HIPAA rules, as any breach of ePHI's privacy and security incurs high costs. Fines and HIPAA penalties run into millions of dollars. This can even bankrupt large hospitals and healthcare facilities.Even if they could get HIPAA public liability insurance, a breach of privacy and security could damage their reputation and skyrocket their insurance premiums.
With this in mind, your business development and marketing efforts should aim to address the concerns of the affected companies. They would like to know from you the resources and skills in your network that could ensure that they can share their ePHI database with you without the risk of being hacked. Your reputation and credibility depend on the security of your patient data. If their patients' names and other data such as contact details or medical records are stolen and put online, no one will trust them. When submitting your offer, make sure you tell the prospect what measures you have in place to protect ePHI from data breaches, vulnerabilities, and potential hacking threats.
4. Show Your Repair Options
Policyholders know that there is no computer system that cannot be completely defeated, no matter how hard they try. Every business has its vulnerabilities, threats are as diverse as life is full of risks and uncertainties, and hackers are always looking for ways to break in and steal your data. All you have to do is show them that you have a privacy repair and mitigation plan in place and a demonstration of your repair skills.
Conclusion
There is a growing demand from HIPAA agencies and institutions for service providers and third-party vendors to help them meet their IT needs. However, due to the stringent requirements and high penalties under HIPAA for privacy and data security violations, they are very selective about who they work with. To take full advantage of these business opportunities, you must show your customers that your skills and resources can reduce the risk of hacking at an affordable cost.
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