The Most Important Compliance Best Practices You Need to Know

The HIPAA Final Omnibus Rule was published on January 25, 2013, by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The HIPAA Final Rule has made significant changes to the privacy, security, breach notification requirements that business associates have to fulfill. These changes are very complex and require covered entities to keep an eye on the policies and procedures that their business associates already have in place or need to implement. The ultimate responsibility for protected health information lies with the covered entity and any breach or malpractice on the part of the business associate will affect the reputation and revenue of the covered entity.

The HIPAA Final Omnibus Rule went into effect last year in January. The amendments to HIPAA found in the Final Rule are extensive and address complex healthcare regulatory schemes. It contains modifications to the privacy standards (Privacy Rule), security standards (Security Rule), interim final security breach notification standards (Breach Notification Rule) and enforcement regulations (Enforcement Rule). All kinds of covered entities as well as business associates of covered entities need to review their HIPAA policies and procedures in order to comply with changes in these rules. This article describes the amendments in the breach notification rule and how to comply with these new regulatory requirements to avoid fines and penalties.