HIPAA, short for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, mandates standards to protect and secure a patient's private health information.
At LeadLine, we strive to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the patient information we handle. LeadLine promotes an enhanced information technology infrastructure so that unauthorized users cannot access private patient data. Additionally, our compliance program features ongoing process improvement and monitoring. In the end, it helps make LeadLine more efficient and better able to better serve the needs of its customers.
To achieve and maintain HIPAA compliance, LeadLine will:
- use confidential patient health information only as necessary to perform billing, customer service, and support functions;
- limit access to patient information to only those employees who perform identified service and support functions;
- prohibit disclosure of patient health information to people unrelated to LeadLine unless expressly approved by legal council and/or the patient, if appropriate;
- require all employees and agents of the company to report uses and disclosures of patient information that are not permitted by LeadLine policy;
- investigate all reports that patient health information was used in a manner not permitted by policy and impose appropriate sanctions for prohibited conduct;
- emphasize the importance of protecting the privacy and security of patient health information and support ongoing educational efforts across the LeadLine community;
- provide for the secure storage and transmission of patient health information received from customers that protects the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the information;
- protect records and patient files by keeping cabinets locked that contain healthcare information, and use computer passwords and firewalls to protect electronic data.
Anyone that has questions or concerns about HIPAA compliance or privacy issues should contact LeadLine at 918-392-9933.