Worried about HIPAA compliance for crisis centers? As crisis centers and I&R service providers advance, data privacy typically becomes a larger concern.

As crisis centers advance in their mission and adopt new programs, many are wising up to data hazards. For instance, did you know that an organization that simply stores the data of a health organization is subject to PHI regulation? For more information on how crisis centers are insuring against privacy violations, see our earlier blog posts about trends in I&R. 

For a complete data-security audit, you’ll need legal and expert assistance. However, there are some steps you can take on your own to mitigate risk. Use these 13 resources HIPAA Compliance for Crisis Centers to maintain data privacy for your valuable information:

Breach notification readiness

For many organizations, it’s not if you’ll have a breach, but when. Know what to do when a breach happens and mitigate the negative consequences as much as possible:

AMA Breach Notification publication:  Comprehensive breach notification guide for physicians, most of which applies for crisis centers.

HHS Breach Portal: Comprehensive resource portal for everything regarding data breaches according to HHS.

Legislation/Government

These publications include complete legislation in regards to HIPAA. Lots of pages, but if you’re doing an in-depth analysis, you’ll need these.

45 CFR Parts 160 and 164. Government document describing HIPAA.

HIPAA Homesite. Everything you (or more likely your lawyer) needs to know about HIPAA.

News

Like most legislation, HIPAA changes over time. Keep track of changes on the Web and through social media.

HHS “What’s New” homesite. Likely, this will be the first place to publish news about HIPAA changes.

Social Media Feed (Twitter) @hippanews.

Technology

Aside from training, technology resources are powerful tools for improving data security.

Sonicwall Email security. Email scrubbers help to prevent PHI from getting accidentally sent to non-authorized persons. There are lots of products for this and shopping is recommended; however we have listed the Sonicwall version here.

HHS Technology resources. HHS-endorsed technology solutions portal.

Tools

Here are a few handy items for data compliance.

Automated compliance checker.  Questionnaire estimates your risk-level based on some basic-level questions.

Product marketplace. Portal with an assortment of HIPAA-related electronic items, such as training programs.

Training

As stated, training is your first line of defense against breaches. Build your own training curriculum, or purchase a tried-and-true training package from one of the following portals:

HIPAA Training videos. HHS-recommended training resources.

Online training courses. An assortment of Web training curriculums that should be considered when developing a training program.

BONUS RESOURCE FOR RESEARCHERS

We promised you thirteen resources, but here’s a fourteenth essential resource, on the house. While this page doesn’t include much in the way of data privacy, it is nonetheless a helpful repository of statistics about drug addiction.

Profile of addiction by profession data resource. Interactive research tool about substance abuse.

Have any more questions about training? Contact us today!