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HIPAA

HIPAA

HIPAA access control policy

HIPAA Training Requirements Every Medical Office Must Understand

Protecting patient privacy is not optional in healthcare. Every member of your medical practice staff must understand how to properly handle Protected Health Information (PHI) and follow HIPAA rules every day. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires healthcare organizations to train employees on privacy and security policies so patient data remains protected. […]
Published Date: May 11, 2026
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Destruction of medical records

Medical Record Retention Mistakes That Could Cost Your Practice Thousands

You may think a medical record is just your EHR notes—but it’s much broader than that. Your medical records include any data created during patient care, including test results, billing records, communications, and even good faith estimates under the No Surprises Act. This means you are responsible for protecting and managing far more information than […]
Published Date: March 23, 2026
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HIPAA Compliance Officer

Why Your Medical Practice Must Designate a HIPAA Compliance Officer (And How to Do It Right)

If you manage a medical practice, protecting patient health information isn’t optional — it’s a federal legal requirement. Under HIPAA, your practice must designate a HIPAA Compliance Officer responsible for privacy, security, and regulatory oversight. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) HIPAA Privacy Rule, covered entities must assign a privacy […]
Published Date: March 10, 2026
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42 CFR Part 2 compliance

OCR’s February 2026 SUD Privacy Enforcement Program: What Medical Practices Must Do Now to Protect Substance Use Disorder Records

On February 16, 2026, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) officially launched a new enforcement program focused on implementing and enforcing statutory and regulatory protections for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) patient records. This means regulators are now actively prioritizing compliance with 42 CFR Part 2 confidentiality rules alongside HIPAA privacy requirements, and medical practices […]
Published Date: March 3, 2026
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HIPAA Breaches

3 Recent HIPAA Breaches Every Practice Can Learn From

One great way to ensure your practice avoids HIPAA breaches is to learn from the mistakes other practices have made. It’s a good idea to keep track of organizations that recently made news for HIPAA issues and dig into what happened to cause their leaks. Check out three recent HIPAA breaches and discover which issues […]
Published Date: December 10, 2025
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Patient voicemails

3 Tips for Leaving Effective HIPAA-Compliant Patient Voicemails

Under the HIPAA rules, medical practices are permitted to leave patient voicemails, as long as you follow a few essential guidelines. But on top of the fact that you need to keep protected health information off of the voicemail, you also must be polite enough for patients to get a good impression, and the content […]
Published Date: September 3, 2025
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HIPAA guidance

OCR Releases Two NEW Nuggets of HIPAA Guidance

When the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enacted the HIPAA privacy and security rules, it was clear that the guidance would change over time. And even now, more than a decade after those initial implementations, OCR is continuing to update its HIPAA guidance. Earlier this month, two updates were issued that could impact how you […]
Published Date: August 26, 2025
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patient recording

5 Tips for Developing Your Patient Recording Policy

When a patient wants to record their office visit with your providers, the situation presents legal questions that you may not know how to answer. After all, having a recording of an office visit could set you up to malpractice accusations or even HIPAA violations. Your best bet is to have a solid patient recording […]
Published Date: August 19, 2025
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Are Revenue Cycle Bottlenecks Costing Your Practice Thousands?

Dr. Lopez’s busy orthopedic practice submits hundreds of claims every week. But with denials creeping up, the billing team is constantly resubmitting claims. One front-desk employee, unfamiliar with payer rules, keeps entering incomplete patient insurance data—forcing staff to chase patients for missing information. Meanwhile, credentialing delays keep a new physician from being properly enrolled with […]
Published Date: July 24, 2025
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Medical record request

7 Legal Requirements for Patient Medical Record Requests

Your practice most certainly knows that when you get a medical record request, you must fulfill it, according to the HIPAA laws. What happens next is often different at every practice. Some practices give patients immediate access to their paper records, others wait almost a month, while some don’t even process the requests the same […]
Published Date: June 3, 2025
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