In 1996, the United States Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, most commonly known as HIPAA. This law was enacted to protect an individual’s health information, while at the same time allowing the appropriate exchange of such information between covered entities, such as pharmacies, doctors, and hospitals HIPAA Solution, to name but a few. Healthcare providers and those in the allied health fields now have access to HIPAA medical software that has been developed to assure compliance with the act.
The United States Department of Health and Human Services issued the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (commonly known as the Privacy Rule) to implement the requirements of HIPAA. This marks the first time in United States history that a set of national standards has been enacted to protect the privacy of an individual’s medical information. As with any government document, it is very difficult to understand the language of the Privacy Rule, and even harder to fully comprehend all of HIPAA.
So what does that have to do with HIPAA medical software? Well, as stated previously, the health care provider or allied health professional needs to be fully compliant with HIPAA. A wise man once said that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
To help those in the field of medicine protect the patient’s rights while at the same time allowing (as needed) access to that information, HIPAA medical software does the following:
- Implements changes in how information management is handled.
- Addresses issues such as coding.
- Addresses issues regarding security of information technology systems.
- Changes in-patient record management.
- Streamlines insurance reimbursement.
- Handles patient care management issues.
Because most medical practices are switching from a paper based office management system to a computer (and therefore digital or electronic) based office management system, the wise medical professional will want to purchase HIPAA medical software to facilitate the switch over from paper to digital. It is not necessary to reinvent the wheel, after all, and if a software program means that your practice is HIPAA compliant, you are ahead of the game.
Using a good HIPAA medical software program means that your practice is in compliance with the 1996 act passed by Congress, at least as far as the Act has been implemented to date. Many rules relating to HIPAA have yet to be written, and keeping your HIPAA medical software updated is also a wise move.
For more information on medical software take a look at this Medical Software [http://www.medicalsoftwarereviewed.com] site. It covers a wide range of software programs suitable for the medical field.