Any company that handles medical records or software relating to medical data is required to manage the way the health records are protected. Is your organization compliant with these HIPAA requirements to get HIPAA compliance certification? Here are a few tips for implementing different types of HIPAA training in the workplace.

It is essential that you are proactive to ensure that your organization and employees are staying within the guidelines for records management. Here is an overview to help you plan the right online training courses for your team:

What is HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was put in place to protect the handling of medical records. Any person that has access to sensitive medical records is required to maintain a certain level of compliance to keep those records private.

Since there is an act that governs the management of these records, you need to understand how the act applies to your situation.

Common Types of HIPAA Training & Certification

If you are starting at a basic level of HIPPA training, then you will need to complete the HIPAA compliance certification. Every person working with medical records needs to complete this training. These requirements are applicable for health care providers, insurance companies, office staff, employees, and even medical software company employees.

Even though everyone needs to be trained on basic HIPAA certification, certain people need more training in addition to the basic information. As an example, general medical staff need to know how HIPAA works and the procedures that are in place to protect documents in the office. On the other hand, health care providers need to learn this information in addition to training about how the rules should be implemented and keeping employees compliant.

Here are some of the other types of HIPAA training that might be required:

HIPAA Security Training

An advanced course for employees who implement security for HIPAA compliance. The training course offers details about the technical, physical, and administrative requirements.

Certified HIPAA Professional (CHP)

For insurance and healthcare executives, clinicians, physicians, and other high-level management.

Certified HIPAA Security Compliance Specialist (CSCS)

An advanced version of the basic security training, covering both state and federal regulations.

Certified HIPAA Administrator (CHA)

Specifically designed to train support roles in the healthcare industry, such as nurses.

Why is HIPAA training necessary? Who needs to take HIPAA training?

Beyond two-step authentication codes, complicated passwords, and tightened restrictions on company cloud employee downloads, why is HIPAA compliance training so important?

If your organization manages confidential consumer details — health records, addresses, prescriptions, etc.—you are required by law to protect that details. HIPAA compliance training ensures that you, your organization, and all your employees do their utmost to keep your client’s private information secure.

Is HIPAA training mandatory?

For certain organizations, the quick response is yes, employed HIPAA training is mandatory.

HIPAA compliance training for any company that needs it, regardless of size or annual budget. All from multi-billion dollar healthcare conglomerates to a country physician with one administrative staff must comply with HIPAA training laws.

Does HIPAA need to be updated yearly? Does HIPAA require annual training?

Employee HIPAA training regulations specify that HIPAA refresher training should be provided “periodically” to all employees. Although open to interpretation, offering annual HIPAA training is best practice for the business. Annually, federal rules and regulations shift, and the business is expected to keep workers up-to-date.

HIPAA online employee preparation is a smart way to update the employees regularly coupled with the HIPAA training software to train them alongside. With just-in-time alerts on rules and regulations, you can get details your employees need.

Choosing an HIPAA Certification Training

As you look around for HIPAA training for your company, you will see that there are HIPAA employee training programs designed for specific industries. These training classes address the needs of the individual roles within certain job descriptions. For example, you can find HIPAA training information for business associates, lawyers, and Human Resources professionals.

Security and compliance training are essential for all companies in the healthcare industry. The easiest and most effective way to complete HIPAA compliance certification is by using an online training program. This training class will help you learn what HIPAA is and how it relates to your job and most importantly, how to get HIPAA certification.. If additional training is needed, such as HIPAA security training, then you can also find those training classes online.

What needs be included in a HIPAA Training Course?

Although each HIPAA training course should be customized to the positions of employees attending the course, certain essential elements should be included. The following table shows what a simple HIPAA training course should contain, while covered organizations will need to concentrate more on certain areas than others. However, none of these areas can be ignored.

Here are a few required areas in a HIPAA training course:

• What is HIPAA?
• HIPAA Privacy Rule
• HIPAA Security Rule
• Why HIPAA is Important
• Disclosures of PHI
• Safeguarding ePHI
• HIPAA Definitions
• Breach Notifications
• Potential Violations
• Patients´ Rights
• BA Agreements
• Employee Sanctions

At Coggno, we make it easy for you to implement HIPAA training for your employees. Contact us to learn more about the HIPAA compliance training that are available.