Bring Your “A” Game to HIPAA Compliance
Are you and your dental clinic staff thoroughly steeped in HIPAA compliance? If so, that’s terrific. You can rest easy knowing you’re not at risk for HIPAA violations—the fines for which can be frighteningly high.
If you’re unsure whether you’re totally on top of HIPAA compliance, see if you can answer the following questions correctly. Your success, or lack of success, will be a good barometer of how conversant you are with HIPAA regulations.
Test yourself
| Answer This Questions To Test Your HIPAA Knowledge | TRUE | FALSE | |
| 1 | It’s okay to put paper patient records in the recycle bin if they’re more than seven years old. | ||
| 2 | If you download some patient records on a USB drive so that you have home access, and it’s stolen, you’re not liable for any HIPAA breaches because you couldn’t anticipate a theft. | ||
| 3 | Your employees should only view patient records that they need to see to do their jobs. Looking at patient records with no “need-to-know” basis is a HIPAA violation. | ||
| 4 | It’s okay to freely share health information with parents of any patients under the age of 21 | ||
| 5 | It’s okay to freely share health information with the daughter of an elderly person who is no longer capable of independent living if the daughter can prove that she is the executor of the parent’s will/estate. | ||
| 6 | Your clinic is required to have one person in charge of HIPAA compliance | ||
| 7 | All staff in a covered entity must receive HIPAA training. |
See how you did on our quiz
- This is not true. You should never recycle patient records, no matter how old they are.
- Sorry to say, you are still liable for any breaches that occur. So, think twice before storing dental patient information on a device that lacks password authorization.
- This is true. Viewing or sharing patient health information that is not needed to perform one’s job is a HIPAA violation.
- False. You need to obtain patient consent from any patients 18 years and older before sharing any health information. Even if the parents are footing the bill!
- False. The child of an elderly person can access health information only if they have power of attorney and/or medical power of attorney.
- True. Each covered entity organization must appoint one individual to manage HIPAA compliance.
- True. If you have dental clinic staff members that have not received HIPAA training, then you’re out of compliance.
Train and test your staff
Provide access to online training for new staff members.
An easy way to ensure that all new dental office staff members receive HIPAA training is to give them access to online training materials that are available 24/7. You can include:
- Key provisions of HIPAA regulations in your employee handbook.
- Bulleted list of the HIPAA regulations you see as most relevant to your staff.
- Occasional pop quizzes during your regular team meetings.
Using mini-scenarios such as those in this article, quiz your staff. If they do poorly on the quiz, ensure that they have some remedial training.
If you’re interested in online training for your staff, check out our short, practical, interactive HIPAA course, designed specifically for dental offices.
About NGT Academy
We are one of the very few turnkey-Learning Management System providers that specializes in the dental industry. Currently, with a library of more than 30 courses created for dental teams, our eLearning platform is one of the easiest to use. Simultaneously, eLearning typically costs at least 30% less than conventional training making for a truly efficient solution for your dental organization.
Do you want to learn more? Contact us for more information or schedule a demo