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Friday, February 27, 2015

Keeping your Officers HIPAA Compliant

Your organization is required by law to have a HIPAA security officer on the premises to oversee the compliance efforts, review and revise documentation, and develop policies and procedures if there are none in place. Knowing what your security officer should be doing is an important part of the administration’s task of overseeing their duties. How can you keep your security officer HIPAA compliant? There are a few things you should know. An internal HIPAA security officer:

• Performs any and all assessments and risk analyses.

• Reviews and drafts all compliance documents for employees and the entire organization.

• Identifies and resolves any areas currently in noncompliance.

• Schedules and conducts all training at the employee and administrative levels.

Drafting and coordinating a compliance plan is one of the most important tasks of the security officer. This plan must be reviewed and updated on a continuous basis to maintain the internal protocols and infrastructure in place, and to reinforce any changes and improvements that have taken place. The security officer is responsible for communicating with government officials and keeping track of any changes to the HIPAA laws that would directly impact the current protocols in place.


If the security officer finds any situations of noncompliance, they are responsible for launching an internal investigation and disseminating any data breaches to the governing entity. The security officer is responsible for the budget needed to carry out the directives and needs of the organization, and in the maintenance of all files, documentation of training, documentation of any components that have been changed within the plan, and any corrective action taken against any employee who may have exposed the company to a data breach. In HIPAA training, an organization or entity will need to understand the risk and the benefits involved to handle PHI.

There should be a reporting hierarchy in place to ensure all employees are following the policies and procedures, with the administration overseeing the work of the security officer to make sure they are not only following the plans, but consistently redeveloping them to meet higher standards.

Knowing what is expected of your security officer will give everyone clear objectives and tasks to complete to keep the organization in accordance under the law.



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