HIPAA compliance is a critical requirement for dental practices to protect patient information.
Here are 52 compliance tips for dental practices to follow:
- Appoint a HIPAA Compliance Officer
- Conduct a risk analysis and update it annually
- Establish Administrative, Physical, and Technical Safeguards
- Create a detailed HIPAA policies and procedures manual
- Provide HIPAA training to all staff members
- Record all telehealth sessions and their contents
- Use secure communication channels for all patient-related communication
- Create a data back-up plan and a disaster recovery plan
- Ensure employees know how to identify and report potential HIPAA breaches
- Encrypt all electronic PHI (ePHI)
- Implement a secure email system or a secure messaging service
- Never leave patient records or devices with PHI unattended
- Implement access controls to limit access to sensitive PHI
- Train employees on identifying social engineering attacks
- Properly dispose of PHI in a secure manner
- Make sure third-party vendors are also HIPAA compliant
- Establish technical firewalls and antivirus software
- Use physical security measures to secure office areas or appliances with ePHI
- Use two-factor authentication with all devices that access PHI
- Offer your patients easy access to their own PHI
- Obtain signed Business Associate Agreements with all third-party vendors that have access to PHI
- Limit access to PHI to only authorized users
- Always log out and lock devices when not in use
- Follow proper password protocols, i.e., mix of letters, numbers, symbols, and complexity requirements
- Keep all virus definitions up to date
- Develop procedures to secure spaces where paper documents are stored
- Utilize backups for all data to prevent permanent data loss
- Conduct regular patching for all operating systems and software in use
- Guarantee data authenticity with digital signatures, i.e., digital certificates
- Train your employees to recognize and prevent phishing schemes
- Perform regular encryption of laptops or other portable devices containing PHI
- Implement approved software to save PHI files
- Have a contingency plan in case of PHI loss
- Safeguard all fax communications from unauthorized access
- Clearly mark sensitive documents with restricted access
- Encrypt patient e-mails that contain PHI
- Design and implement Secure Text Messaging
- Conduct background checks for staff access to PHI
- Train your employees on identifying potential malware threats
- Set up an intrusion detection system and regularly update firewall rules
- Properly destroy documents containing PHI
- Create a physical security program
- Make monthly backups of all your data
- Create policies and procedures around incident response
- Have a clear policy for granting access to PHI in emergencies
- Test data backups and recovery data procedures
- Confirm HIPAA compliance of your vendors before signing any contract
- Keep records of all HIPAA training
- Only send PHI via a secure fax machine
- Implement automatic log-off after a few minutes of inactivity
- Establish alignment with required privacy rules and regulations
- Regularly evaluate and re-assess administrative, physical, and technical safeguards.