Despite the fact that HIPAA compliance has been in force for more than ten years, it keeps getting more difficult. HIPAA compliance, at its core, paints a clear image of “how” you should maintain compliance status rather than simply following to standard compliance standards.
Along with the security function, HIPAA also has privacy and breach notification requirements. The difficulties are typically caused by how HIPAA is applied.
It is understandable that many healthcare providers frequently encounter difficulties navigating HIPAA’s technical standards while remaining compliant for security reasons.
The Office for Civil Rights emphasizes that the HIPAA rules and regulations have undergone multiple changes. And every change to a rule instructs people and organizations to disclose health information in a particular way.
Reviewing Risks
Most of the time, entities forget to regularly examine risks. Risk assessment is one of the fundamental obligations outlined in HIPAA laws, regardless of the nature of a project or altering operations.
Additionally, if risks are not routinely assessed, businesses will not be in compliance. Regular risk assessments should help businesses get ready for potential HIPAA violations or audits.
Overlooking vendors is another error that makes it challenging for businesses to comply with HIPAA, similar to failing to review risks.
Increased Volume of Digital Health Data
Patients and healthcare professionals are creating and gathering much more health data today than they did a few years ago. Health and fitness tracking gadgets are among the comparatively low-risk health data elements.
However, pandemic screening has significantly boosted the number of medical tests being performed in 2020. In 2020 alone, there were more than 41 million pandemic tests conducted in the United States, according to the CDC.
Increased Health Data in the Cloud
Health data is suddenly getting harder to track as if the sheer volume of increased health data wasn’t difficult enough. Consider yourself a HIPAA compliance specialist at a major research hospital.
Numerous patients, nurses, medical professionals, and researchers pass through your doors every year. To make sure that appropriate HIPAA guidelines are followed, you might be given a seat at the table for key health research projects.
You might not, however, cover everything. For instance, a small group of academics might choose to test a brand-new cloud health analytics program and pay for it with research funds from another source. In that case, your HIPAA compliance program’s ability to maintain comprehensive coverage might be compromised.