Touchstone Compliance announces its new cloud-based services designed to aid independent health-care providers in navigating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the complex federal law that protects the privacy and security of patient information.
Working in conjunction with experts certified by the Health Care Compliance Association and well-versed in HIPAA and its updates, Touchstone Compliance distilled the hundreds of pages of HIPAA legalese into a series of online questions that guide providers through the process, evaluate their current level of compliance in the areas of privacy, security, and breach notification, identify and prioritize specific issues that need to addressed, and provide proof for any auditors-to-come that they've taken steps to become HIPAA compliant. The services are specifically designed to help a provider pass the government's audit.
"With a cloud-based solution such as ours, a doctor wanting to get a handle on HIPAA doesn't have to wade through mountains of information or hire legal counsel or purchase special HIPAA software, software that - because of the ongoing changes in the law - is often outdated as soon as it's installed," said Roman Diaz, Touchstone Compliance president. "Our services are continually updated, so every time our users log on, the questions they see reflect the most recent version of HIPAA. And because we're in the cloud, they can log on anytime and anywhere from any computer, tablet, or smartphone."
Click here to watch a video about Touchstone Compliance's services.
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The risks of non-compliance impact both providers and patients. For patients, breaches in the security of their information can lead to identity theft, insurance fraud, and health care compromised by lost or misused medical records. For the health-care provider, non-compliance can result in onerous lawsuits and fines as high as $1.5 million.
Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights is responsible for enforcing the law. Since 2003, HHS has received and investigated over 78,871 HIPAA complaints. In 2013, HHS rolled out an extensive update to HIPAA. Leon Rodriguez, HHS OCR director, said that these changes, known as The Omnibus Rule, "not only greatly enhance a patient's privacy rights and protections, but also strengthen the ability of my office to vigorously enforce the privacy and security protections."
For more information, visit www.touchstonecompliance.com. To talk with company president Roman Diaz, call 858-344-0092 or email him at [email protected].
