HIPAA Conformance Certification

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires health care providers, health plans and related entities to maintain stringent confidentiality with regard to patient information. Noncompliance can result in serious legal penalties. HIPAA conformance certification is an optional means of communicating compliance with HIPAA standards.

HIPAA Training

• Many businesses and organizations offer courses and materials to educate doctors, nurses and office staff on the intricacies of HIPAA. These courses can also teach doctors and staff to implement HIPAA privacy protections for patient information. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offers free training materials that meet HIPAA standards (see Resources).

Third-Party Certification

• HHS allows third-party companies to offer HIPAA training to help ensure patient privacy. Many third-party companies also offer compliance evaluations that can identify and help to remedy areas of noncompliance with HIPAA. These companies may claim to provide "certification" of HIPAA compliance.

Legal Status

• Entities to which HIPAA applies must periodically evaluate their compliance with HIPAA regulations, and they can hire an external company to perform this task if they wish. However, HHS states that no company or institution can legally "certify" compliance with the relevant HIPAA standards. Neither certification by a third party, nor internal use of IT safeguards, guarantees HIPAA compliance, or prevents HHS from discovering and prosecuting HIPAA violations.