Compared to anywhere else on the planet, the cost of a data breach is highest in the United States. If you’re reckless with your customer or client information, you could be putting your company at risk. You’ll risk losing the trust of your customers or clients if you don’t implement strong HIPAA training for employees.
Want to make sure you’re doing everything you can to protect yourself? Here’s what you need to know about training.
Training is Required
The rules governing HIPAA Privacy and Security makes it so that all organizations need to train their workforce on the proper way to stay in compliance. The numerous security policies and privacy procedures to protect customers and clients will vary from one job to the next. It’s vital for employers to provide training that pertains to the specific needs of the job.
HIPAA provides access to a team to help with compliance training. They know that every company has unique preferences and so they work around your need to make sure your in-house team is well prepared.
You’re entitled to on-site HIPAA training to happen at your facility. This will ensure that specific concerns are addressed as they relate to the way that you do business. Training is offered during the day, at night, during weekdays, or during weekends.
They even provide reference and training materials to ensure you don’t have to pay anything to put the training together. This will cost you much less than having your team travel to an off-site location for training.
There Are Training Requirements
If you’re going to qualify for HIPAA certification, you need to meet the basic training requirements that HIPAA lays out. They need every member of a workforce to have an understanding of the same basic privacy protections.
Every employee needs to be trained soon after they’re hired. The idea of how long is vague but they describe it as in a “reasonable” time period.
Every employee has to be trained when there are changes made to policies. If procedures that pertain to their job are shuffled around, you have to run a new training so that they understand how to meet the needs of HIPAA.
They’ll expect you to also put together a periodic refresher course. If you want your organization to stay compliant, you need to meet these requirements. Strategic management within HIPAA will oversee how you provide training to determine whether or not you’re hitting the mark.
HIPAA staff who visit will also consider whether or not you’re meeting the hour requirements of the state. Every state will have different requirements, so make sure you’ know what’s expected.
Know Who Gets Trained
In order to secure the health information that you’re given access to, you need to know who needs to be trained and what they should be trained to know. From Management and executive levels on down, everyone should be familiar with the security requirements of a HIPAA certified facility.
If you employ volunteer or trainees, you need to make sure they’re trained as well. While it might be an extra lift for you in terms of staffing, it’s vital that everyone in your facility knows how to meet these requirements.
Hours that need to be dedicated to training might not be specifically outlined, but there are a few minimum elements you should include.
Training needs to include security reminders and periodic updates to your security protocols. There should be procedures for guarding against hacks, protecting you from malicious software, and reporting any potentially suspicious information found along the way.
Basic elements like having a password protocol are vital to keeping information safe and secure. You need to also be monitoring the people who are logging in and reporting via your server. If you don’t have total control over your data and who is accessing it, you’re likely to leave wide-open gaps in your system.
Make sure that you document your training process. There should be sign-in sheets that people fill out when they arrive as well as a confidentiality agreement that lets you take account of who got the training. If you put together a software or computer-based training quiz, make sure you hold on to that information.
Knowing the Benefits Can Be Motivating
When you develop and implement a strong in-house program, you get a lot of peace fo mind. At first, it’s intimidating to think about the kind of spending you’d have to invest to get your training program off the ground. Outsourcing the training to another team might be worth your while.
With the stakes so high for meeting the compliance requirements laid out by HIPAA, there’s no good reason to take any risks.
When trainers come to visit you, they keep you and your team from having to travel. There won’t be major disruptions to your schedule and you can ensure that everyone is in the right place at the right time.
By having seasoned experts walking your team through the many steps of HIPAA compliance, you avoid unnecessary lawsuits. Rather than having to take risks that your staff is being careless with the information they have access to, you can rest easy knowing that your data is safe. Your patients will also appreciate the lengths you go to in order to respect confidential information.
Save on Extra Costs With HIPAA Training For Employees
HIPAA training for employees saves you on a lot of costs that you shouldn’t have to bear. Paying for lost clients, the rebuilding of your reputation, or for expensive lawsuits isn’t necessary when you train everyone properly.
If you want to improve the security of your network infrastructure, follow our guide for tips.