HIPAA Webinar: Required Training and Valuable Refresher

Whether meeting federal training requirements or simply refreshing their knowledge base, professionals whose role includes HIPAA administration will benefit from participating in Alera Group’s annual HIPAA Privacy and Security Overview, a one-hour webinar scheduled for Friday, April 11. 

Employees assigned to their organization’s administration of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are required under federal regulations to undergo training within a year of assuming those administrative duties. Participating in the April 11 webinar meets that requirement. 

And for those who’ve been at HIPAA administration for a while, a presentation on the law’s strict and somewhat complex Privacy and Security Rules is a good opportunity to strengthen their understanding of the law. 

During the webinar, we'll review the different types of entities subject to HIPAA, take an in-depth look at individual rights regarding protected health information (PHI) and explain what to do should a breach of PHI occur.  

With a new round of compliance audits by the Department of Health and Human Services underway, you may find the session especially timely. 

What you’ll learn 

Not all employers are subject to HIPAA. Many with fully insured health plans — those with no Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) — are exempt.  

But if your organization is an entity covered under HIPAA, you’ll want your HR administrators to attend. 

Covered entities include group health plans, organizations that serve as clearing houses for healthcare data and healthcare providers who electronically transmit personal health information (PHI). In addition, the Privacy and Security Rules also apply to a group health plan’s business associates who perform functions or activities involving PHI associated with the plan. 

During the webinar, we’ll review: 

• Core concepts under HIPAA 
• When you can use and disclose PHI 
• Rights of individual participants in the group health plan 
• Safeguards for protecting PHI 
• What to do in the event of a PHI breach. 

Upon registering for the webinar and throughout the presentation, you’ll have the opportunity to submit questions for our featured presenter, Stacy Barrow, partner at the employee benefits and employment law specialty firm Barrow Lent. 

Efficiency, privacy and security 

One of Congress’s objectives in creating HIPAA was to improve efficiency within the healthcare system by standardizing the electronic exchange of administrative and financial data. That objective is addressed in the law’s Administrative Simplification Rules.  

But electronic sharing of data also creates exposures, which is why HIPAA requires covered entities to maintain reasonable and appropriate administrative, technical and physical safeguards for protecting electronic personal health information (e-PHI). Those requirements are addressed in two other rules: 

The Privacy Rule, which regulates how a covered entity may use and disclose PHI and establishes plan participants’ rights regarding protection of and access to their PHI. 

The Security Rule, which protects against reasonably anticipated threats of the prohibited uses or disclosures of e-PHI detailed in the Privacy Rule. 

Join us for our April 11 webinar, and come away with a strengthened understanding of: 

• Which entities and types of plans are subject to the HIPAA Privacy Rule; 
• What constitutes PHI protected under HIPAA; 
• The uses and disclosures that are permissible under HIPAA. 

  To register, click on the link below. 

REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR