HIPAA and Business Associates - New Responsibilities and Obligations

HIPAA regulations pertaining to the relationships of business entities that share PHI are now being enforced. HIPAA Business Associates are covered directly under the Privacy Rule’s use and disclosure limitations, the Security Rule’s safeguard provisions, and the Breach Notification Rule’s notification requirements. HIPAA Business Associates are responsible for their own compliance with the regulations, and may be held directly liable for any violations of the regulations. Whether your organization is a Business Associate or a Covered Entity that hires HIPAA Business Associates, you have significant obligations in compliance that you overlook at your peril.

Why Should You Attend:

This presentation will help entities working with healthcare information on behalf of others understand the obligations under HIPAA and see what needs to be done to ensure data are properly protected and penalties for noncompliance are avoided. In this modern environment of electronic systems, potential security threats, and big penalties in the millions of dollars for non-compliance, it is essential to understand your obligations and act accordingly under HIPAA.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• The regulations will be reviewed and their effects on usual practices for Business Associates and their relationships with covered entities will be discussed.
• We will describe the kinds of entities that qualify as Business Associates and why it is important to carefully consider the designation before using it.
• We will examine other types of HIPAA entities, such as Hybrid entities, Affiliated Covered Entities, and Organized Health Care Arrangements, how they relate to Business Associates, and when Business Associate Agreements may be required among the various entities.
• We will review the new HHS guide to guide to the direct enforcement liabilities of Business Associates under the HIPAA regulations.
• We will explain what a Business Associate needs to do under the regulations, provide a policy framework for information security, and show what policies need to be in place.
• We will describe the required and recommended elements of a Business Associate Agreement, including identifying the template language provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services and its role in the process.
• We will explore the questions that should be posed to HIPAA Business Associates to ensure they have considered good privacy and security compliance practices in their businesses.
• The new enforcement penalty structure and the latest plans for audits by HHS OCR will be described and a plan for being prepared for audits and enforcement actions will be discussed.

Who Will Benefit:

This webinar will provide valuable assistance to all personnel in:

Medical offices, practice groups, hospitals, academic medical centers, insurers, business associates (shredding, data storage, systems vendors, billing services, etc.). The titles are:

• Compliance director
• CEO
• CFO
• Privacy Officer
• Security Officer
• Information Systems Manager
• HIPAA Officer
• Chief Information Officer
• Health Information Manager
• Healthcare Counsel/lawyer
• Office Manager
• Contracts Manager