Every quarter, CDA publishes a Practice Health Check focusing on a different topic related to the business side of dentistry. HIPAA compliance, specifically patients’ access to their records, is the focus in the second quarter of 2023. CDA members are invited to take the Q2 Practice Health Check consisting of just three questions.
Spring is the perfect time to dust off old habits and clean up your practice’s HIPAA policies and procedures. Spring cleaning should be focused on ensuring your patient access policies and procedures are consistent with both HIPAA and state laws. Patients have the right to view and to have a copy of information related to their treatment and payment for that treatment.
Compliance with aspects of HIPAA, including performing Security Rule risk analysis and ensuring appropriate use and disclosures of protected health information (PHI), is a focus during the second quarter of 2023. Dental practices have been investigated over the past few years for failure to provide patients with access to their records and for unauthorized disclosures of patient information, and some investigations resulted in dentists paying large settlements.
CDA members are invited to take the Q2 Practice Health Check consisting of just three questions:
Do you have written policy and procedures that explain how your dental practice complies with patient requests for records?
Have you performed a thorough and comprehensive risk analysis as required by the HIPAA Security Rule?
Do your written policies and procedures describe the uses and disclosures of protected health information that require patient authorization?
For guidance on how to maintain compliance when responding to records requests, performing a privacy risk analysis and disclosing your practice’s uses of PHI, start the Practice Health Check now and follow the links to additional CDA resources to help you comply.
One additional resource endorsed by CDA to help members achieve HIPAA compliance is the Abyde software solution. Abyde guides practices through mandatory compliance requirements such as implementing risk management programs, training doctors and staff, customizing policy documentation, and more. As a vetted CDA partner, Abyde offers a discount for members.
CDA launched the quarterly Practice Health Check in 2021. Members can review all Practice Health Checks online.
Source: Dentists can use CDA’s new Practice Health Check to evaluate HIPAA privacy law compliance / CDA.org