Health Services:  HIPAA Compliance

When Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), it presented the health care industry with an enormous task: compliance with stringent new standards governing patient privacy, security, transactions, and code sets. HIPAA means rethinking and restructuring your enterprise from multiple perspectives—legal, regulatory, process, security, and technology—while you educate your employees to work and think differently.

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed P.L. 111-05, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law, which includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH).

HITECH extends HIPAA privacy and security requirements directly to traditional business associates, and includes Health Information Exchange Organizations, Regional Health Information Organizations, e-Prescribing Gateways, and Personal Health Record (PHR) vendors that provide PHRs to covered entities as business associates. This extension subjects all business associates directly to civil and criminal penalties.

We understand the responsibilities and burdens that state law, HIPAA and HITECH impose upon our clients, and have assisted them in their compliance efforts. The depth of our health care experience enables us to efficiently provide a full spectrum of HIPAA and HITECH-compliance services, including developing:

  • Notice of Privacy Practices
  • Privacy Policies and Procedures
  • Security Plan
  • Security Policies and Procedures, including risk assessments and employee training
  • Red Flags Rule Compliance Program
  • Breach Notification Compliance Program and response services
  • Business Associate Agreements

The HIPAA team has hands-on experience to represent clients in enforcement actions by federal regulators and state attorneys general, and litigation associated with privacy actions and breaches. The team also has experience representing clients in data security issues and data breach responses throughout the United States.

Finally, the HIPAA team has broad knowledge and experience on the application of state confidentiality laws and the interaction between state and federal laws.

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