The HIPAA Security regulations went live in April and with it came a new caliber of safeguards and system modifications to ensure that you and your family's Protected Health Information (PHI) remains secure.
April 20th Go-Live Date
April 20th came and with it so did the go-live date for the HIPAA Security Regulation. As mentioned in previous issues of HIPAABlues, the Security Regulation is designed to protect all PHI stored or transmitted electronically. This differs from the HIPAA Privacy regulation, which protects all form of PHI. The HIPAA Security regulation is designed to add safeguards to Information Technology systems, computers, and networks that store and transmit PHI.
Member PHI Security
So, let us focus on member PHI security. The Security Regulation added additional administrative, technical and physical safeguards to further ensure that PHI is secure. This includes additional passwords and lock-down features on claims or customer service systems so that employees can only access information necessary to do their job. This increases measures surrounding e-mails and disks to exchange PHI. The regulation adds reporting functionality to track against malicious attempts to access systems. This also expands on training, policies and facility security measures.
Is Your PHI Secure?
All of this is for the member and to ensure that you and your family's PHI remains safe and private. FEP and the BCBS Plans have been working hard since 2003, when the final HIPAA Security regulation was released, to ensure that its systems would be ready. Due to its critical nature, some functionality went live with the HIPAA Privacy implementation. In other cases, some Plans worked efficiently enough to complete their HIPAA Security implementation in 2004. That is how serious FEP and the BCBS Plans take the need to protect your PHI.