As the health industry continues to modernize and digitally transform — driving growth among healthcare providers and diversifying its supply chain and partners — complying with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act becomes fundamental for the sector to safeguard health operations, PHI, individual rights, and mitigate and respond to breaches and incidents.

This policy, written by Ray Fernandez for TechRepublic Premium, provides guidelines for healthcare providers, organizations working in and with the health industry, and any other business affected by the HIPAA Act in the United States.

Featured text from the policy:

ACCEPTABLE AND UNACCEPTABLE USES

Acceptable uses of the company’s HIPAA-affected systems include:

The generation, use, and sharing of information for permitted uses and disclosures listed in the Security Rule, Breach Notification Rule, and other rules and standards set by the HIPAA Act.

The generation, use, and sharing of information (whether electronic, written, or oral) by physicians, medical professionals, hospitals, and other clinical institutions to provide good care to individuals, evaluate the quality of care they are providing, and ensure they receive proper payment from health plans, as listed in Permitted Uses and Disclosures: Exchange for Treatment and Exchange for Health Care Operations.

Processing PHI for legitimate business purposes: Employees may use HIPAA-affected systems to access, use, or disclose PHI for authorized business purposes, such as providing treatment, billing for services, or conducting quality improvement activities.

Communicating with patients: Employees may use HIPAA-affected systems to communicate with patients about their healthcare, such as sending appointment reminders or discussing test results.

Guaranteeing individual rights: Employees and providers must comply with HIPAA standards and guarantee individual rights to access their personal health information in a timely and accessible manner.

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