How to Get the Best HIPAA Training

The Best HIPAA Training Occurs at the Right Time

According to a survey referenced in a recent article on the Society of Human Resource Management website:

• 35 percent of respondents offered HIPAA training between one and five years ago 
• 13 percent provided training only during onboarding
• 10 percent did not know when HIPAA training was last offered

That means less than half of respondents conduct training annually as HIPAA rules and regulations require. Violations like this can lead to substantial fines.

The Best HIPAA Training Reaches the Right People

HIPAA applies to all healthcare employees who create, amend, use, or process patients’ protected health information (PHI), in paper or electronic format (ePHI). It also applies to the employees of any vendor (defined as a business associate by HIPAA) who receives, stores, processes, analyzes, or destroys PHI.

For a healthcare practice or business associate to be fully HIPAA compliant, they must train all employees to know their responsibilities under the law if they come in contact with patient PHI.

The Best HIPAA Training Covers the Right Subjects

Knowing that annual training is a requirement of HIPAA compliance, what should employees learn during the best HIPAA training? At a minimum, employers should train employees on two things: 

• Basic understanding of HIPAA laws and their responsibilities under the HIPAA Privacy Rule and HIPAA Security Rule, including how to recognize protected health information (PHI), proper uses and disclosures of PHI, and how to report a breach of PHI.
• Cybersecurity best practices include using strong passwords, not sharing login credentials, recognizing a phishing email, etc.

While not part of the HIPAA regulations, healthcare providers that bill Medicare must also complete specific training demanded by the Center for Medicare Services.

Compliancy Group offers all these training modules as part of our automated HIPAA software solution, “The Guard.”

The Best HIPAA Training Fits Your Schedule

If you are doing annual in-person training now, how do you handle it when new employees need to be onboarded? HIPAA requires that all employees be trained promptly, usually within the first 30 days of employment.

Waiting too long to train employees violates HIPAA rules and regulations. Arranging in-person training throughout the year may be cost-prohibitive.

The Best HIPAA Training is Provable

There are two keys to achieving HIPAA compliance: 

• Fulfilling all of the requirements of the law, including training employees and gathering attestations
• Being able to prove that you have fulfilled all the requirements of the law, including training employees and gathering attestations

If your practice or business experiences a PHI breach or an audit by the enforcement authorities for HIPAA, training records and attestations to demonstrate compliance is one of the things you will be required to produce. If you can’t, you’ll violate HIPAA, which has led to fines.

The Best HIPAA Training is Part of a Total HIPAA Solution

Suppose you’re currently trying to achieve HIPAA compliance through a patchwork of vendors and service providers. In that case, you’re making your life more complex, and it’s likely costing you more than you’re saving.

Our automated HIPAA compliance solution, “The Guard,” guides you through every step of the compliance process, including training and attestation. You choose the employees, and they receive access to the training you know they need via their company email. 

You can instantly see who has (or hasn’t) completed the assigned training, and you can schedule follow-up reminders. You can even schedule training for new employees as part of their onboarding process, so they’re ready to go on Day One.

Best of all, The Guard tracks all training and attestations in one convenient place, along with security risk assessments, gap remediation, policies and procedures, business associate agreements, access for whistleblower breach notification, and incident response.  

It all comes with a personal Compliance Coach who walks with you through the process and helps you learn what it means to be compliant.