The Compliancy Group launched a new free tool called HIPAA Quiz to help organizations assess the present condition of their HIPAA compliance.
Healthcare providers that implement policies and procedures in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Rules must be sure that they are fully compliant with all terms and conditions of the HIPAA Security, Privacy, and Breach Notification Rules. That is important because when the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) conducts compliance audits and investigates data breaches and complaints, some companies are found to have missed or misinterpreted certain HIPAA requirements.
As a rule, breaches with over 500 records are investigated by OCR. As of this writing, six HIPAA covered entities have been issued financial penalties to settle HIPAA violations in 2018. The settlement fine or civil monetary penalty for 2018 is $1,491,166 on average.
Aside from OCR, state attorneys general likewise investigate data breaches and complaints. They also issue penalties to entities that violate HIPAA Rules. State attorneys general have already issued five fines in 2018 to HIPAA violators. The settlement amount is $514,563 on average in 2018. It was $718,800 on average in 2017.
In order to help healthcare providers avoid financial penalties, the HIPAA compliance experts of the Compliancy Group released the free HIPAA Quiz. Using this tool, healthcare organizations can do a quick assessment to see if they are compliant with the basic HIPAA requirements. The quiz consists of questions answerable by yes or no, which are designed to measure of HIPAA compliance based on the fundamental requirements of HIPAA.
The Compliancy Group HIPAA Quiz is designed to empower healthcare organizations to avoid the misconceptions on HIPAA compliance in the healthcare industry. Joe Bilello, Vice President of Compliancy Group, said that they are hoping the HIPAA Quiz will help users find out what is really the requirement of HIPAA compliance instead of depending on hearsay and incomplete information. The HIPAA compliance assessment tool is available on this page.