.jpg)
In this digitally smart world, every sector is moving at a fast pace and the healthcare sector is no exception. Healthcare Practices possess sensitive information about their patients in different medical billing software.
That is the reason why cyber-attacks frequently target the healthcare sector. The intention is to steal a patient’s sensitive data and exploit the information.
The shocking part is that data breaches in healthcare actually cost United States businesses more than $6 billion every year. To protect healthcare from the constant assault of threats, it is important for them to comply with HIPAA compliance rules.
Let’s Understand HIPAA Compliant Billing Software
Before we talk about HIPAA compliant billing software, we need to first understand what HIPPA itself represents. HIPAA, which is also abbreviated as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is an essential piece of legislation enacted in the United States in 1996. The aim was to safeguard sensitive patient health information and establish specific rights related to healthcare privacy.
When we talk about medical billing software, HIPAA means that all parties involved in the process, including healthcare providers, billing companies, and insurance entities, must adhere to the strict guidelines set forth by the act.
Although many healthcare-related concerns are covered under HIPAA, it specifically addresses privacy and security concerns that are associated with protected health information (PHI).
There might be serious consequences from unauthorized access, data breaches, and mishandling of PHI. This ranges from compromising patient privacy to financial loss which results in reputational damage for various healthcare organizations.
To protect patient’s privacy and to ensure compliance, it is important to understand and implement HIPAA's provisions and best practices when choosing medical billing software.
In this blog, Medicraft will explain the role of HIPAA in medical coding & billing and explore the best ways to achieve and maintain HIPAA compliance in the healthcare industry.
The important part to consider is that the third-party companies providing billing services must ensure the software they use is HIPAA-compliant. If they fail to do so, it may lead to serious consequences, which include heavy fines and action against your license. hipaa compliant billing software
The Role of HIPAA Compliant Billing Software
Privacy of Patients
HIPAA establishes strict guidelines to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patients. It demands healthcare providers and those who are involved in medical billing implement measures to safeguard the information of their patients.
These include maintaining any personally identifiable information such as the privacy of a patient's medical records and billing information. Therefore, the medical billing software you choose must be HIPAA compliant in order to ensure the privacy of your patients.
Electronic Transactions and Code Sets
When you have HIPAA compliant billing software, it mandates standardized electronic transactions and code sets in medical billing. This standardization will make sure that consistent formats and codes are used by healthcare providers while submitting and processing claims electronically. It also ensures a simplified billing process, enhances efficiency, and reduces errors in the long run.
Set Security Standards
When you have the best HIPAA compliant medical billing software, it sets specific standards to protect electronic PHI (ePHI) and data from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.
It is a necessity for the healthcare industry to implement administrative, physical, and technical protection to maintain the integrity and security of patient information.
These include access controls, encryption, staff training, and audits. Getting medical billing software that is HIPAA Compliant, like Medicraft is a step in the right direction.
Risk Assessments and Audits
Vulnerabilities and risks to patient information are identified by conducting regular risk assessments. It is important for healthcare providers to comprehensively analyze their systems, processes, and physical infrastructure.
This helps in identifying security gaps and taking appropriate measures to overcome them. Additionally, conducting audits periodically ensures ongoing compliance and identifies areas that require improvements.
Provide Technical Safeguards
It is important to implement robust technical safeguards, for protecting ePHI. When you have HIPAA compliant medical billing software, you will be able to employ strong access controls.
These controls include unique user IDs and passwords, encryption of sensitive data, implementing firewalls and intrusion detection systems, and regularly updating and patching software systems. This helps to address vulnerabilities.
Privacy Notices and Consent
HIPAA-compliant billing software requires healthcare providers to notify patients about their privacy practices. This is a document that explains how the provider uses and protects its PHI and the patient's rights regarding their information.
Patients must provide written consent for releasing their PHI. The exceptions are the cases where the information is required for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations.
Physical Safeguards
Apart from getting HIPAA-compliant medical billing software, physical security measures should be in place to protect physical access to areas where PHI is stored. This can be done by restricting access to data centers, secure storage of paper records, and proper disposal of physical media.
Security Features of HIPAA Compliant Medical Billing Software
Every healthcare provider should choose HIPAA-compliant billing software if they want to avoid hefty fines and penalties throughout their practices.
HIPAA demands the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI). Because of this, it becomes a necessity that there are security measures in place to safeguard it.
Here are features to look out for when searching for the HIPAA-compliant billing software:
Encryption
Encryption is the best way to secure data. It is a perfect way to mask your sensitive data by turning it into a format that can only be read by authorized individuals possessing a decryption key.
Data Backup
In case there is any event of a breach or a natural disaster, there is a need to protect data. Therefore, it is necessary that medical billing software implements offsite data backup. Data backup facilitates data to be restored quickly when the original copies are damaged or stolen in any case.
Access Controls
Organizations should only grant access to the components of the medical billing software that employees require to complete their job functions. This should be done with the use of unique login credentials. This HIPAA requirement is termed as the minimum necessary standard.
Audit Controls
To ensure adherence to the minimum necessary standard and facilitate the quick detection of breaches, HIPAA requires PHI access to be regularly tracked. When you keep an audit log, it allows healthcare organizations to establish regular access patterns to PHI.
This makes it easier for the administrators to detect cases when PHI is being accessed outside the norm. It also enables organizations to track data that is being accessed through the platform.
User Authentication
It is an important part as it ensures that users are who they appear to be while using the unique login credentials. HIPAA-compliant medical billing software must have a means to provide unique login credentials for each user within the organization.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a form of user authentication that offers increased security. MFA requires users to input multiple login credentials to access data such as a username and password.
Transmission Security
Adding transmission security provides an additional layer of security with its end-to-end encryption (E2EE). E2EE secures both data stored in the medical billing software and data being sent through your medical billing software.
Driven by the impact of the constantly evolving environment in the healthcare industry, digital healthcare transformation has become a new norm. Therefore, it is obvious to see a sharp shift towards a focus on healthcare compliance adherence.
Benefits of Choosing the Best HIPAA Compliant Medical Billing Software
According to research, many patient's information is often leaked due to data breaches in the healthcare industry. With the best HIPAA-compliant medical billing software, healthcare providers are able to protect their patient's information and stay compliant with industrial regulations.
Other benefits of using the best HIPAA compliant medical billing software includes the following :
Reduced Administrative Burden
A medical billing software with HIPAA compliance will reduce the workload on your administrative staff by automating tasks related to compliance management.
This includes tracking training requirements, managing documentation, and scheduling audits. So, you don't have to worry about meeting deadlines and industrial standards.
Effective Risk Management
HIPAA compliance software is designed with tools that help in conducting risk assessments, identifying vulnerabilities, and implementing risk mitigation strategies. This ensures your medical billing is accurate with all regulations.
Confidence In Role
The best HIPAA compliance software has built-in guidance, templates, and best procedures to ensure you are following all the regulations. This helps your compliance officer feel more confident knowing they have all it takes to fulfill their responsibilities, even without specialized training or expertise in compliance matters.
Reduced Stress
By using HIPAA-compliant software, healthcare providers are reassured they are taking all necessary steps to protect patient information and meeting all the compliance rules. This reduces the stress and uncertainty of receiving hefty fines or penalties.
Medicraft: Smarter Billing with HIPAA-Secure Software
HIPAA compliance is all about committing to protecting your patients' most sensitive information. By investing in HIPAA compliant billing software, you have security features that protect your data against fraudulent activities and ensure long-term success.
If you are also planning to build HIPAA-compliant software, the experts of Medicraft are here to assist you. We implement strategies in place to carefully meet HIPAA requirements and make your revenue cycle management easier than before.