Why You Need to Provide HIPAA Training for Your Health Employees

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) training program was designed to improve the healthcare industry via securing patients’ sensitive information, facilitating the administrative processes for healthcare industries, and, ultimately, reducing costs. Because any person with access to PHI is required to take that training, it is important to understand how it works and why healthcare providers have to give that training to their employees. Healthcare staff in group health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, or healthcare insurance companies are required to take this training as well. If you want to know why this training is so important, continue reading these following points. 

Protection Against PHI Loss

One of the main concerns that patients have is the loss of their important data. The information related to this patient can be private and very sensitive, which will make them feel conscious about them getting lost, falling into the wrong hands, or simply being perused by someone who doesn’t have legal access to them. In addition to this, healthcare staff who have access to PHI interact with dozens of people on a daily basis, which provides hundreds of chances for this information to be exposed. They can either protect or expose their patients if they don’t have the proper HIPAA training. Luckily, this training makes sure its receivers are fully aware of the fact that patients’ information should be both protected and secured from any possible breaches or losses. Thus, any employee with PHI access will grant protection for this information.

Encourage Initiatives That Promote Patient Safety Culture

One of the great things that HIPAA training inspires in its partakers is the tendency to respect and promote the patient safety culture. HIPAA training helps healthcare staff to understand that the security of PHI is just another extension of their patients’ safety. It is as important a measure as administering the right dosages of medication, preventing any further injuries, and helping patients through the long path of recovery. Once the idea of protecting PHI is popularized and normalized amongst the healthcare staff, no one will even think of the possibility of breaching that moral code. Thus, it ensures the protection of this sensitive data on a moral and cultural level. HIPAA training is not only inspiring for employees but for employers as well, who feel the urge to take other initiatives, like promoting and supporting diversity inclusion which helps employees understand the challenges of working in a diverse environment and the different types of discrimination. This also includes unconscious bias and protected classes. When such training goes along with HIPAA training, establishing a healthy work environment will become a living truth. 

It Is a Better Alternative for Paper Records

In addition to providing impeccable protection for patients, HIPAA has helped in advancing the transition from paper records to an electronic database for all information related to patients. It’s true that no one likes the hassle of paperwork, especially when the information keeps piling up every day with new patients. However, if the use of paper records in the administrative process has been established for years, it is hard to shift to a different system, no matter how efficient this new system is. HIPAA made sure that this process is much easier in order to make efficiency more prominent in the process of storing and securing information and also make the process of sharing this information with other qualified individuals is done within a secure medium. 

Increase Patient’s Satisfaction

Patients, especially the ones who are already paranoid about sharing personal information will have a semblance of safety when they know that your employees are well versed in the practices of HIPAA training. Patients are aware, either from the news or other patients who had bad experiences, that security breaches regarding patients’ data have been tampered with, lost, or exposed to the public, so they will probably worry that the same could happen to them. In fact, most of the HIPAA audits are performed each year due to these concerns being voiced by a family member complaint or an anxious patient. When they come across what HIPAA instills in the healthcare staff’s mind, they will likely be more appreciative of your organization. So, make sure that you make it clear both for your employees and your patients that HIPAA is an integral part of your workplace practices.

Now that you know some of the benefits of HIPAA, you’ll be more inclined to provide it for all your employees if they haven’t already been trained. This training will guarantee the peace of mind of your patients and will bring an array of benefits for your organization. So, make sure to utilize HIPAA to its fullest capacity