Ensure HIPAA IT Requirements Are Met Through Los Angeles It Services

Posted by Tom C.
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Jun 15, 2016
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There are a lot of HIPAA IT requirements out there, though unfortunately, many companies are unaware of how to become compliant, or struggle with the various components. Los Angeles IT services can be utilized to simplify the process and ensure that you are able to adhere to all four rules regarding HIPAA compliancy, including the Privacy Rule, Security Rule, Enforcement Rule, and Breach Notification Rule.

The Standards

Los Angeles IT solutions are going to help with a variety of technical safeguards involved in the HIPAA Security Rule. This includes being able to provide access control in terms of who can and cannot access certain levels of data. Emergency access procedures will be put into place an automatic log off can terminate electronic sessions after a certain time of inactivity. Audit controls will also be in place, which will include implementing different types of hardware and software.

Further, integrity needs to be another standard in place, and you will want to implement electronic mechanisms to be able to ensure that ePHI has not been destroyed or otherwise altered in a manner that has been unauthorized.

Authentication is another major component, and it is important to have procedures in place that will verify a person or entity that is trying to access ePHI.

Finally, within the security rule, there is also the standard of transmission security. You need to make sure that security measures are in place to ensure that electronically transmitted ePHI is safe. Encryption needs to be high-end so that the data is not accessible unless a person has the encryption key.

Safeguards

under the privacy rule, it ensures that healthcare transactions handled electronically are done so in the most effective way possible, including safeguarding all personal health information. Disclosures are held accountable and breach notifications must be made to the covered entity.

A wide array of physical safeguards need to be implemented as well. This includes facility access controls, workstation security, workstation use, and device and media controls.

Under facility access controls there needs to be a facility security plan implemented along with procedures that focus on access control and validation. Maintenance records must also be in place regarding where any modifications may have been made to the physical facility components where security is located. Contingency operations must also be drafted in the event that there is any kind of lost data due to a disaster.

Under workstation security, physical safeguards for all workstations must be in place that will restrict access to only authorized users. With workstation use, policies and procedures need to be in place regarding the functions that are to be performed and physical attributes of each workstation.

Finally, with device and media controls there needs to be policies and procedures regarding the disposal of electronic media or hardware, media re-use, accountability for the movement of hardware and other electronic media, as well as data backup and storage, where a retrievable electronic PHI can be made and accessed as needed.

Ultimately, there are all sorts of standards and safeguards that need to be implemented as a result of HIPAA IT requirements. If you are in the healthcare industry, you need to put significant emphasis on these IT requirements, and you don’t need to do them all alone. Provide Los Angeles IT services that will help you to become HIPAA compliant and maintain your compliancy at all times.

We will help you to enforce all of the different rules, place the safeguards where necessary to protect patient health information, have policies, procedures, and agreements in place, and limit the overall access to employees and others. This can be done through the use of software and hardware, as well as various IT training programs.

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