In this episode, I speak with two highly experienced HIPAA compliance experts, Kevin Beaver and Brad Smith to get their views and opinions about this much discussed but often debated regulation. In particular we discuss the relatively new HIPAA Administrative Simplification Enforcement Final Rule, and how it impacts providers and payers. We explore and try to determine what, if any, impact the HIPAA Enforcement Rule has on Covered Entities.
Instead of clarifying compliance enforcement issues for covered entities (CEs), the Enforcement Rule has seemed to confuse and mislead many CEs into believing that they really don’t need to do much with regard to HIPAA compliance unless the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) come knocking at their door and tell them they specifically need to do something.
Not all CEs are lackadaisical, though; Kevin, Brad and I discuss some of the CEs that have been very diligent in their HIPAA compliance efforts. However, we also discuss some examples of blatent disregard for HIPAA, and the resulting risks to organizations from such action. We also discuss the importance of addressing compliance through partnering information security, privacy, legal and compliance areas.
Tags: awareness and training, CMS, HHS, HIPAA, Information Security, IT compliance, OCR, Podcast, policies and procedures, privacy, regulatory compliance