The HIPAA Basics: What Every Therapist Needs To Know
Do you understand the requirements for protecting the privacy and security of your clients and their information? Or are there some HIPAA gray areas that remain foggy?
Are you new to practice or unsure of what, exactly, is required of you? Do you lack the right systems and technology: HIPAA-compliant email, website forms, and other types of communication?
Then I’m glad you’re here.
HIPAA compliance is not simply a nice idea; it’s a legal responsibility. If you’re an experienced therapist, consider this article an important reminder. If you don’t yet have each piece of the HIPAA puzzle laid, consider this an essential read.
Why HIPAA is important for therapists
HIPAA compliance is important for a variety of reasons. According to the HIPAA Journal, the legislation is designed:
To improve efficiency in the healthcare industry, to improve the portability of health insurance, to protect the privacy of patients and health plan members, and to ensure health information is kept secure and patients are notified of breaches of their health data.
While HIPAA — the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) — is broader than the protection and security of patient data alone, this component should be of primary importance for therapists.
Why?
Your well-being and the well-being of your clients depend upon it.
A client is entitled — barring specific legislated situations — to protection against disclosure. Protection that safeguards against theft, fraud, and the nonconsensual release of personal, financial, and health details. When a client knows that what they communicate with a therapist has a great deal of protection, it becomes easier to share deeply personal and clinically relevant information. This can lead to better outcomes.
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For you as a therapist, being HIPAA-compliant significantly lowers the risk of a data breach. From a reputation perspective, remaining “legal” maintains the trust that is essential in your role. There are also significant potential financial and legal penalties attached to failing HIPAA compliance should an issue arise. Penalties it is wise to avoid.
Being HIPAA compliant and legally above board, then, should form a strong practice pillar. One that is taken seriously and implemented effectively.
Basic requirements for HIPAA compliance
How do you become — and remain — HIPAA compliant?
HIPAA compliance includes a range of requirements. For example:
- Ensure only those who are legally entitled can access client information
- Train staff about compliance and impose sanctions for failure
- Ensure that all individually identifiable health information is protected
- Safeguard all electronic information that your practice (including you and your team) creates, maintains, receives, and transmits. This includes via web form and email
- Put in place appropriate and reasonable administrative, physical, and technical protections against threats and disclosure
- Analyze and manage potential risk and implement provisions to mitigate said risk
- Document assessment of the above risk and any security measures taken
- Maintain these measures
- Revisit these measures periodically to ensure appropriateness. Update, when required
- Put in place policies and procedures to accept and action an authorized access request
- Limit physical access (premise, workstations, and devices) so only authorized access is allowed
- Ensure that electronic records are not improperly modified or destroyed
- Notify those involved in a data breach promptly (by following the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule)
Tip: Learn about the laws in greater depth by reading the Summary of the HIPAA Security Rule. Or for specifics, check out the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security Rule.
5 steps for HIPAA compliance
How can you ensure your practice is HIPAA compliant?
- Begin with awareness. Reading this article is the perfect start!
- Learn about your responsibilities and take them seriously.
- Identify problem areas. This forms part of the analysis of potential risk.
- Implement any necessary changes. As you can see from the list above, there is a range of policies and procedures you will need to produce. There are steps you will likely need to implement.
- Once executed, set a reminder to revisit your policies semi-regularly. Once a year should suffice. Update, when needed.
Sounds simple enough, right?
HIPAA compliance can be complex. So, let’s take a look at a key area where therapists can run into trouble: communication. Email, web forms, social media, and texting are four common pieces of communicative technology deployed by therapists.
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HIPAA-compliant email and web forms for therapists
Think about the kind of information that is shared between a client and therapist via an email or a web form. At minimum, the communication will include name, email address, and date. Beyond, there may be health details, investigations, reports, and other identifiers.
This information is all data covered by HIPAA. Data must be protected. This means having HIPAA-compliant email and web forms is essential as a therapist.
To be compliant, an encryption service should be used. A company that “scrambles” email and form content so it cannot be read by someone without the encryption key. At BrighterVision, we use Hushmail to power the HIPAA-compliant emails and forms we provide for our clients.
We offer:
- HIPAA-compliant technology across your devices
- Email accounts that incorporate a separate archiving email address (to maintain full communication history)
- HIPAA-compliant protected web forms
Tip: Email is a potent way to speed practice growth. As we said in a recent article, “It’s powerful, cheap, with the potential to create loyal and invested clients who are thrilled to hear from you.” We believe email should be standard practice for therapists. Email that is encrypted, safe, confidential, and legal.
HIPAA-compliant texting for therapists
Did you know that texting is covered by HIPAA rules as well?
If a text contains protected health information, you must ensure it’s HIPAA compliant. There are several steps involved, including:
- The establishment of appropriate text-related procedures and policies
- Evaluation, identification, and mitigation of risk
- Authentication of the sender’s identity
- Protection of information
- The maintenance of an unedited record
There are companies — like OhMD — that offer HIPAA-compliant texting services.
HIPAA-compliant social media for therapists
Social media is a wonderful way to power practice growth. But as with any information you release into the big wide world, it’s important to consider HIPAA compliance. This includes how you respond online and via your social media platforms.
For example, when someone leaves a review on your Facebook page it might be tempting to greet them by name and make a comment related to their care… “Thanks, Cindy. I’m so glad you’re feeling better!” Or “I’m sorry to hear that meditation hasn’t worked for you, Jim.” Don’t.
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The sharing of names and other information isn’t advisable. Instead, thank a reviewer for their feedback, offer a solution (a complimentary consultation, for example), and direct them to contact your practice.
Tip: To understand how to gain the immense pros of social media — without the cons — read our article, HIPAA Compliance for Therapists on Social Media: A Guide for Private Practices.
The HIPAA takeaway
While it may at first seem onerous, achieving and remaining HIPAA compliant protects you and your clients. It safeguards against data breaches, increases client trust, and protects your reputation, your wallet, and potentially your license.
Embrace this legislation. Then monitor your progress. As technology continues to evolve, HIPAA requirements will evolve too. Just like they have with the use of telehealth during the pandemic. Keep pace.
Incorporate proven technology from companies that seamlessly support your compliance. OhMD can provide texts. We here at BrighterVision can provide HIPAA-compliant high-quality email and web forms.
Ready to find out how? Simply hit the Get Started button. Fill in a few details. We’ll organize a time to speak with you about how we can aid your HIPAA compliance and help to supercharge your practice growth!
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