What does HIPAA compliance mean?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a U.S. law designed to protect individual privacy by establishing national standards for maintaining sensitive patient health information and medical records. HIPAA compliance involves establishing and maintaining security policies and controls that meet those standards, and demonstrating their efficacy to auditors on a regular basis.

Who needs to comply with HIPAA?

Entities required to comply with HIPAA include: • Healthcare providers • Health plans • Healthcare clearinghouses

Why is HIPAA compliance important?

External hackers and malicious insiders are constantly attempting to gain access to electronic protected health information (ePHI) for various purposes, such as financial gain, identity theft or blackmail. HIPAA was designed to force healthcare organizations to improve their data security and protection.

Who enforces HIPAA compliance?

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for enforcing the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules.

What are the top obstacles to HIPAA compliance?

Here are the top requirements healthcare organizations need to meet to become HIPAA compliant: • Perform regular risk assessment • Conduct staff training • Implement and maintain strong data governance

How often should an organization review their policies for HIPAA compliance?

It’s critical to keep all HIPAA policies and procedures up to date; they should be reviewed at least annually.

How do small organizations handle HIPAA compliance?

Even though smaller healthcare facilities typically have limited resources, they still need to develop practical strategies for HIPAA compliance. Here are the key steps in achieving HIPAA compliance: • Conduct all required audits and assessments. • Perform regular risk analysis. • Establish and enforce all required policies and procedures. This checklist provides more steps for ensuring HIPAA compliance at your organization.

What Is HIPAA Compliance: Guidelines for Becoming Compliant

Go Up

Netwrix Named a Visionary in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Privileged Access Management

Elena Vodopyan

Published: January 4, 2021

Updated: March 17, 2023

Elena Vodopyan

Elena has more than 8 years of experience in the IT industry. She started as a Public Relations Specialist at Netwrix, working on PR materials such as commentaries, articles and customer success stories. Then she transitioned to Content Marketing, where she is now responsible for delivering informative blogs and whitepapers. Elena also serves on the editorial teams for both the Netwrix Cyber Chief and SysAdmin magazines.