Applying your corporate compliance skills to the HIPAA security standard

Compliance programs are an increasingly hot topic among healthcare providers. These programs establish policies and procedures covering billing, referrals, gifts, confidentiality of patient records, and many other areas. The purpose is to help providers prevent and detect violations of the law. These programs are voluntary, but are also simply good business practice. Any compliance program should now incorporate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security standard. Several sets of guidelines for development of compliance programs have been issued by the federal government, and each is directed toward a different type of healthcare provider. These guidelines share certain key features with the HIPAA security standard. This article examines the common areas between compliance programs and the HIPAA security standard to help you to do two very important things: (1) Leverage your resources by combining compliance with the security standard with other legal and regulatory compliance efforts, and (2) apply the lessons learned in developing your corporate compliance program to developing strategies for compliance with the HIPAA security standard.