How Often to Have HIPAA Training for Employees?

The Health Insurance and Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) was created to protect people and their private information. The law grew out of concern that individual's health information was being compromised due to certain health issues such as HIV. Their are many guidelines with regards to HIPAA and frequent training should be conducted to ensure that every employee is on the same page when it comes to HIPAA regulations.

When to Conduct Training

• HIPAA was enacted by Congress in 1996 and continues to be updated as changes occur with HIPAA regulations. The creation of HIPAA allowed for the health care industry to establish a national standard of people's privacy and how that privacy is maintained. The HIPAA law helps to protect confidentiality and health status by providing medical numbers to all patients in any and all medical facilities.

  Medical information is stored in a electronic data base and enhanced by encoded security features. Other parts of the HIPAA law indicate that when a person visits their physician that they can not be called by last name and medical staff must be separated by a room divider. The law also outlines that no medical staff in any facility can discuss any patient when others can hear identifying information.

  It is due to the strict law of HIPAA that upon date of hire a new employee is to receive a HIPAA training running no longer than one hour in duration. This training can be conducted via the web and a test will be given at the end of the training. They must also sign off on the understanding and adherence to HIPAA guidelines.

  HIPAA training should occur every six months to one year, depending upon the changes in law, regulations or guidelines. You may also sign up on the HIPAA web site and they will send updates as they occur and these updates should be forwarded to your staff via a memo that they sign off on.