The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, also known as HIPAA, was passed to safeguard individuals’ protected health information (PHI) and prevent fraud, waste, abuse and identity theft.
Training in HIPAA requirements are already considered a necessity for those working in the health and wellness industries. But what about companies, regardless of industry, that offer employee-sponsored health plans? Human resources departments that handle benefits will often deal with PHI by default, but if your HR team has not had HIPAA training, employee privacy and security could be compromised.
Under HIPAA, healthcare providers are required to prevent unauthorized access to patients’ PHI, which means implementing secure document management and digital security systems.
PHI includes information such as patient diagnoses and treatment, prescriptions, billing information, and address. HIPAA violations can lead to large fines, lawsuits, and can also prompt employees and clients to lose trust in your organization. Often, these violations are a result of carelessness and improper procedure, which is why it’s so important to implement regular training for those who need it.
If your company provides benefits services, workers’ compensation, or medical billing, then your human resources team needs to understand the ins and outs of HIPAA. While IT departments often shoulder the responsibility for complying with data privacy and security laws, HR should take the lead in fostering a culture of compliance—potentially even appointing a dedicated compliance officer within the team. Your HR department should regularly inform employees about privacy policies and best practices, record and resolve complaints, and maintain and update procedures related to HIPAA.
Medical HR professionals will regularly encounter sensitive health information and will also be responsible for reinforcing the importance of compliance to staff.
For HR teams in healthcare settings—such as hospitals, private practices, treatment facilities, and wellness centers—regular HIPAA training should be standard practice. These sessions must cover both sets of HIPAA regulations: the Privacy Rule and the Security Rule. The former specifically deals with protecting PHI in terms of people and administration, while the latter is focused on protecting information in electronic format.
Training for HR teams in healthcare should include general information on HIPAA, patients’ rights, disclosure of PHI, breach notification protocol, and employee sanctions. Additionally, staff should be trained on how to safeguard ePHI and what constitutes a violation under HIPAA Security.
Training for HR personnel in other industries does not need to be as detailed as training for medical HR professionals and should focus mostly on HIPAA Privacy with a basic outline of HIPAA Security.
In these instances, it’s best to include an overview of HIPAA, an explanation of PHI and when to disclose, a guide to maintaining HIPAA compliance in the office, breach protocol, how breaches occur, and employee sanctions. Specific HR department expectations, responsibilities, and procedures should be emphasized.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “HIPAA Rules are flexible and scalable to accommodate the enormous range in types and sizes of entities that must comply with them. This means that there is no single standardized program that could appropriately train employees of all entities.” HHS itself offers an official free video training module, and the government website HealthIT.gov also provides ample training materials for employers to use.
While HHS advises creating your own training to address the needs of your company, many employers simply purchase an online HIPAA training course, which employees can complete in the span of an hour or two. Beware of this method. While the companies creating these materials provide the necessary information (and they do offer options tailored to HR professionals), employees who simply take an online training are less likely to absorb the information, take it seriously, and understand their personal roles in HIPAA compliance.
In-person training, whether conducted by the company’s compliance officer or an outside consultant, are much more effective in clearly communicating HIPAA rules and their importance to HR personnel. The best approach is to keep the trainings short, focused, and frequent, so your staff is not overloaded with information.
An effective way to strengthen HIPAA compliance is by using a modern, secure document management system. Specialized providers can help convert patient or employee records and other PHI into electronic formats, store them in secure cloud platforms or offsite records centers, and manage them with proper retention and retrieval protocols. This ensures sensitive data is both protected and easily accessible when needed.
For HR teams, this kind of system supports their role in managing employee records, worker’s compensation documentation, and other confidential information while staying aligned with HIPAA’s privacy and security requirements. By incorporating digital tools into their workflow, HR professionals are better equipped to lead compliance efforts and maintain secure, efficient operations across the organization.
For information on how Access can help your HR team strengthen compliance, ensure secure access to information, and digitize paper-intensive processes, schedule a call with one of our representatives.
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