This week is filled with office holiday parties, baskets of
holiday goodies being delivered from your specialists, and making sure you have
your out-of-office emergency messages all set up just in case a patient needs
to reach your doctor. When you return back to your office after the holiday,
you will be looking ahead to 2016 with setting new goals, mapping out your
appointment book for a more stress-free working day, and looking at new
strategies to attract new patients. There is one thing I am asking you to add
to your list of planning for 2016 … and that is to please bring your office up
to HIPAA compliance.
When I am working with an office or providing a
complimentary office assessment, I am still amazed at how many practices are
out of compliance. You cannot continue to ignore the three requirements that
were mandated by the HIPAA Security Rule in 2005. Yes, it has been more than 10
years since the HIPAA Security Rule was mandated and it is still grossly neglected.
There are three questions I want you to ask your doctor or office manager.
-
Where is your office’s risk assessment
documented and what is the results?
-
Where is your office’s customized HIPAA Security
Manual?
-
When is your next annual office HIPAA training
scheduled?
If you cannot get the answers to these three questions, you
are out of compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule, which could result in your
practice receiving a HIPAA violation. I realize you do not hear of many HIPAA
violations, but I am trying to protect you. Becoming compliant is not difficult
… just get it done.
I have written on this topic many times and preach it with
all my clients. CLICK HERE for more information.
Dayna Johnson, Certified Dentrix Trainer
Dayna loves her work. She has over 25 years of experience in the dental industry, and she’s passionate about building efficient, consistent, and secure practice management systems. Dayna knows that your entire day revolves around your practice management software—the better you learn to use it, the more productive and stress-free your office will be. In 2016, Dayna founded Novonee ™, The Premier Dentrix Community, to help cultivate Dentrix super-users all over the country. Learn more from Dayna at www.novonee.com and contact Dayna at dayna@novonee.com.
