HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996. Workers who lose their employment will be able to maintain their health insurance coverage and the confidentiality of their medical records thanks to provisions in the new law. Several high-profile health data breaches in recent years have increased public awareness of HIPAA.

The HIPAA privacy rule creates uniform requirements for safeguarding individuals’ health records. The initial intent of the privacy regulations was to apply only to health industry workers. The HHS, the primary agency in charge of HIPAA compliance, has changed the statute and implemented new rules. In particular, in 2013, the HHS imposed a HIPAA omnibus regulation that details the obligations of business partners and vendors in the healthcare industry. Hire a Healthcare Mobile App Development Company for your next project.

What does software company HIPAA compliance entail?

All hospitals, doctors’ offices, pharmacies, nursing homes, and other facilities that handle patient care and access electronic medical records are collectively called “covered entities.”

“HIPAA standard applies to the software provider if the software provider interacts with a solution that collects and processes personal identifiers of patients.”

Both “covered entities” and “business associates” must follow HIPAA’s rules for compliance. Under HIPAA, a “business associate” is any individual or organization that provides a service to a “covered entity” in exchange for access to the latter’s Protected Health Information (PHI). The definition states that “all software firms in the healthcare industry that keep, share, or simply have access to identifiable health information of patients must be HIPAA compliant.”

Three main factors decide whether or not your app must comply with HIPAA rules:

Regarding protecting patients’ personal information, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is the most important law in the United States. The purpose of this bill, sponsored by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), is to provide uniform requirements across the country for the privacy of specific types of medical records.

To be by HIPAA, one must adhere to the statute’s rules and subsequent amendments. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) outlines five conditions that any healthcare software must meet to be considered “HIPAA compliant.”

1. Privacy Regulations

The law gives patients certain rights to their health information, such as the right to inspect, receive a copy of, and request revisions to their data, and is meant to enhance the flow of health data while preventing fraud and theft.

2. Policy for Safety

A covered entity must follow the standards in the Security Rule to protect electronic protected health information (ePHI) that it creates, receives, uses, or maintains. The Rule states that “adequate administrative, physical, and technological protection to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and security” of ePHI must be implemented by all covered institutions.

3. Law of Conformity

The Enforcement Rule details the process through which HHS will enforce HIPAA, including how regulators will determine fault and any associated penalties.

4. Rules for Reporting

When a breach of unsecured protected health information (PHI) occurs, the Rule mandates notification to HIPAA-covered companies and their business associates. This includes both paper-based and electronic PHI.

5. Rule of Thumb

It establishes rules concerning interoperability in healthcare solutions to make it harder to avoid breach reporting, expand non-compliance responsibility to business partners, and impose additional privacy limits for the use of PHI. It modifies numerous HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Enforcement rules.

Avoid These Common HIPAA Infractions

Regarding HIPAA compliance, it’s not only about the technical details and ensuring your software is secure from data breaches. Employees’ carelessness is a common cause of data leaks. You should be aware that the following are clear Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act breaches. Disclosing of Information. Without specifically naming the patient, HIPAA prohibits medical professionals from sharing information about a patient’s health with anybody outside the patient’s immediate family.

Getting hold of patient records by text message or remote computer. Computers in the home are more likely to be attacked than those in a hospital. Since it is far simpler to hack a home computer than to steal the password of a medical software system and extract the information needed, accessing patient data from a home computer poses a direct threat to data protection. Similarly, insecure is messaging patient test results or other information through IM.

Inadequate education. Many healthcare workers unwittingly breach HIPAA regulations because of the nature of their work. That’s why it’s crucial to stress the significance of protecting patient data and instruct your doctors on the best methods.

Internet trolling and other forms of social infiltration. Doctors sometimes share patient images on social media without their permission, often to demonstrate the success of cosmetic procedures. However, this is inappropriate due to the risk of identifying patients, especially if the doctor is well-known or the patient is from a small town. It’s also possible for one patient to inquire about another’s health status with the doctor.

Is HIPAA-compliant logistics software essential?

Short answer: yes. Delivery and logistics companies frequently use technology to optimize fleet management. However, due to HIPAA’s stringent requirements, businesses must also identify HIPAA-compliant service providers.

DispatchTrack is already HIPAA and SOC2-compliant, making it a pioneer in the logistics business and the preferred software of many industry leaders. To guarantee the safety of their client’s information, service providers undergo a SOC2 audit. This is a must-have feature for highly confidential companies in a prospective SaaS vendor.

As a healthcare logistics SaaS provider, DispatchTrack facilitates patient transfer and medical supplies, devices, and equipment to homes and clinics.

When it comes to delivering pharmaceuticals to nursing homes for older people, one of DispatchTrack’s clients, Gerimed, has been using the service to great effect. Gerimed’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is integrated with DispatchTrack to facilitate accurate inventory tracking of all supplies and medications loaded onto delivery vehicles and transported to nursing homes.

How Much Time Does It Take To Be HIPAA-Compliant?

Startups in the health insurance industry, or any other medical initiative storing patient health information, should be built with HIPAA compliance in mind from the get-go. The correct response is that HIPAA compliance takes as much time as project development and that its standards should always be kept in mind. A HIPAA Compliance Officer is needed so the hospital can comply with the law even after the project has been implemented and used successfully.

Conclusion

Patients who cannot make it to the pharmacy in person will greatly benefit from the drugstore’s ability to deliver their medications to their homes. Furthermore, home delivery can decrease prescription abandonment and waste while increasing patient treatment adherence, satisfaction, and loyalty. What wonderful resources for patients! A Healthcare Mobile App Development Company can be the best choice for your business.

About the Guest Author:

Prashant Pujara is the CEO of MultiQoS Technologies., The Best Healthcare Mobile App Development Company in USA where you can hire App developer for your business. He is in charge of the company’s commercial and delivery operations and strategic planning and strategy.

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