What are the three HIPAA rules? Why is it vital to follow these guidelines? What do these regulations imply for the online faxing of documents? Before you begin faxing PHI documents, you must first get answers to these inquiries.
Protecting the privacy of patients is a key responsibility in healthcare. This is precisely why the HIPAA federal statute was enacted in the United States. Under such legislation, covered companies are required to adhere to national standards and are held liable for any infractions.
HIPAA also applies to electronic actions such as delivering patient health information through online fax. If you need to fax papers containing PHI, you must understand the three essential its regulations!
What are the basic rules of HIPAA?
The three fundamental rules are as follows:
- HIPAA’s Privacy Rule
- HIPAA Security Regulation
- HIPAA Breach Notification Regulation
The following is a basic summary of each rule and regulation.
What Are the Three HIPAA Rules? A Fundamental Overview
The HIPAA Act of 1996 comprises three fundamental regulations. Individuals and organizations must follow these standards at all costs.
1- HIPAA Privacy Rule
What are the three HIPAA rules? The “HIPAA Privacy Rule” is the first of three rules.
This regulation applies to all healthcare providers and covered organizations that communicate PHI in any form. However, including paper, electronic, or oral transmission. This regulation requires covered organizations to preserve and limit the circumstances in which PHI is used or disclosed.
Although there are exceptions to this rule, covered entities must strictly follow the regulations at all times. The use or disclosure of PHI may be authorized, but only under certain conditions. For example, when the individual whose PHI is being requested initiates the request.
If the covered entity needs to use or disclose the PHI, it must first get written consent from the subject of the information. This regulation also includes subcategories and requirements pertaining to particular operations. Hence, regulations such as giving disclosures, privacy staff, privacy practice notifications, and so forth.
Punishment Violations
If a covered entity fails to follow these standards, it will risk consequences, including civil monetary penalties. The degree of the transgression typically determines the severity of the penalty. Individuals who willfully breach the Privacy Rule will also face criminal penalties, including a monetary punishment of up to $250,000 and up to ten years in jail.
2- HIPAA Security Regulation
The HIPAA Security Regulation, the second rule, applies to all types of PHI, including electronic and paper records. Furthermore, it covers companies must comply with the security compliance requirements under this regulation. based on three major considerations: administrative, physical, and technological
This rule applies to all covered organizations and their business partners. Furthermore, this rule protects what it refers to as ePHI (electronically protected health information). ePHI refers to protected health information that is transferred or received electronically (for example, via online fax).
Under this regulation, all covered entities must implement suitable and necessary safeguards to protect ePHI from foreseeable risks. In addition, the covered company is responsible for periodically examining and upgrading its security procedures.
3- HIPAA Breach Notification Regulation
What are the three HIPAA rules? This third rule completes the response to the query.
All covered businesses and their business associates are obliged by this regulation to disclose any type of breach occurrence involving unprotected PHI. A breach defines as any unauthorize access, use, or disclosure of unsecured PHI.
Exception
While there are a few exceptions, all covered firms must report a breach incident. This includes alerting all impacted individuals as well as the Secretary of HHS OCR. When there is a breach that affects more than 500 patients, the firm covers requires to alert the media.
Furthermore, all covered businesses must send these notifications within 60 days of becoming aware of the incident. If the breach affects 500 or more patients, the covered business must notify the HHS OCR Secretary without undue delay.
What Are the Top 3 Causes of HIPAA Violations?
Since the question “What are the three HIPAA rules?” addresses, it is also necessary to know the top three reasons for HIPAA infractions.
Since the question “What are the three HIPAA rules?” has been addressed, it is also necessary to know the top three reasons for HIPAA infractions.
According to roguelogics theft owing to stolen hardware, following illegal access of protected information. Human mistake is another major reason for HIPAA infractions. Forgetting to trash documents, misplacing data, and failing to log out of a computer session are examples of such instances.
The third cause of HIPAA infractions, on the other hand, is hacking. Malware assaults strike many healthcare facilities. Such attacks have cost the healthcare business thousands of dollars in return for access to sensitive data.
Final Thoughts
What are the three HIPAA rules? You are doing your part as a responsible citizen by knowing the answer to this question. Even if you are not in the healthcare industry, knowing these standards is beneficial. Knowing what each of the three fundamental principles entails suggests that you have obligations and duties to follow.
What to do?
It’s not merely a question of civil or corporate liability. It’s also an issue of moral obligation. After all, the ultimate purpose is to safeguard the patient’s privacy and safety. The HIPAA guidelines simply emphasize the significance of an individual’s right to private and secure health information.
In the same way, following these standards protects covered entities. These guidelines, in particular, help protect covered companies against unprofessional behavior and fraudulent accusations. It also implies that the service is completely capable of protecting sensitive patient health information from cyber assaults.
Begin using Roguelogics immediately to ensure that your online DATA are safe and secure 24 hours a day, seven days a week!
Get HIPAA Certification
What exactly is HIPAA certification? It is a sort of certification that verifies a covered entity or business associate’s knowledge of the law. The Privacy, Security, and Omnibus Rules can all be covered by the certification.
While undergoing HIPAA certification can not ensure that no breaches will occur, it can assist. Employees must sometimes understand the laws and regulations in order to obey them.
HIPAA certification is accessible for your whole office, allowing everyone to obtain the necessary training. You may enrol folks in the appropriate course based on their work title.
As a result, providers may discover how HIPAA impacts them, and business associates can learn about their HIPAA connection. You won’t have to conduct training, which will save you a lot of time.