Protecting Your Patients’ Privacy in Online Communication
Because medical practice requires access to a considerable amount of personal information about your patients, Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996, creating national guidelines to ensure the confidentiality of sensitive patient information. As an inherent right to privacy, this act requires a patient’s consent for most disclosures.
What Does HIPAA Protect?
HIPAA prohibits the disclosure of “protected health information,” or PHI, without the express consent of the patient. This information includes individual medical records, as well as other individually identifiable health information. The provisions of the HIPAA privacy rule apply to healthcare providers, healthcare plans, and healthcare clearinghouses that conduct transactions electronically. Information contained in emails, text messages, websites, and social media is subject to HIPAA requirements.
Ensuring Your Website Is HIPAA-Compliant
To comply with the provisions of HIPAA, you should take the following steps:
- Confirm that your web hosts understand and can provide HIPAA-compliant hosting services.
- Ensure that your website has a secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate. SSL certificates establish an encrypted connection.
- Confirm that all forms available on your site are encrypted.
- Use HIPAA-compliant encryption for any emails that run through your website.
- Require any third-party service providers to complete a HIPAA business associate agreement.
- Include secure user authentication with multi-factor authentication for your website.
- Complete backup, restoration, or deletion of PHI in accordance with HIPAA guidelines.
Many of the actions required to become and stay HIPAA-compliant may be actions that you do not understand or know how to do. In most instances, the best method to ensure HIPAA compliance is to work with digital marketing professionals specializing in HIPAA compliance.
What Are the Consequences of Not Complying with HIPAA?
The provisions of HIPAA identify four tiers of liability for violation of the privacy rule:
- First tier—Where you did not and could not know about the infraction
- Second tier—Where you either knew or should have known, but did not act willfully
- Third tier—Where you acted with “willful neglect,” but fixed the problem within 30 days
- Fourth tier—Where you acted with “willful neglect,” but failed to remedy the situation in a timely manner
The potential costs of failure to comply with HIPAA can be substantial, with fines ranging from $100 to $50,000 per violation and a maximum annual penalty of up to $1.5 million. Certain violations can also result in jail time. The severity of penalties typically increases as you escalate up the tiers.
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