After all this time, many mental health professionals continue to be confused about whether or not HIPAA applies to them. Here’s a quick little article to help you discern once and for all if you fall into the category of needing to be HIPAA-compliant.
Tamara, good article and even more reasons why Covered Entities and Business Associates should be focusing on the true merits of HIPAA compliance, and that’s putting in place documented HIPAA information security and operational policies, procedures, and processes. I’ve worked with so many healthcare providers that lack the basic and fundamental documentation for HIPAA compliance, therefore it’s easy to see why non-compliance issues are still a major factor with HIPAA. I also hear healthcare companies express cost concerns about developing such documents, along with implementing risk assessment and security training initiatives, but with all the free and cost-effective tools available (some of them straight from hhs.gov!), there’s really no excuse for not being HIPAA compliant. Everyone needs to be ensuring the safety and security of PHI, it’s really that simple.
Tamara-
Love your site but while trying to find info on HIPAA compliance with this article I noticed the link embedded in it was bad. Can you redirect me?
Thanks!
Hi, Heather! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know. This is not the original link, but it’s one that I like much better – https://personcenteredtech.com/2013/05/am-i-a-hipaa-covered-entity-how-much-does-it-matter-if-i-am-or-not/. Roy Huggins, LPC does a great job of keeping us up-to-date on HIPAA.