A free Aug. 9 webinar, “HIPAA Security Risk Analysis,” will focus on only one particular aspect of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, according to ADA News.
However, understanding that aspect — the security rule regulation — is critical to the entire success of a dental practice’s security compliance program.
“The goal of HIPAA training is, at the end of it, for the dental team member to be able to say, ‘I know what I am supposed to do to protect the protected health information I encounter in my job,’” said Dr. Mary Licking, member of the ADA Standards Committee on Dental Informatics and chair of the ADA’s Dental Information Systems Security and Safeguards working group. “This webinar will provide dental team leaders in charge of their employers’ HIPAA compliance programs an opportunity to learn some more about security risk analysis, a critical part of any covered dental practice’s HIPAA compliance efforts. Without a thorough, accurate, ongoing risk analysis, a covered dental practice is flying blind, so to speak.”
“The HIPAA security rule talks about covered entities,” continued Dr. Licking. “Many dentists qualify as covered entities because it is common for the business part of dentistry to be conducted electronically such as electronic dental claims and eligibility inquiries.”
The Aug. 9 webinar will stream from 2-3 p.m. CDT, and register online here.
The webinar will also discuss how to comply with the HIPAA security rule’s risk analysis requirement using a qualitative risk analysis methodology. It will also cover some reasonable risk mitigation strategies and suggest resources for further study.
While the webinar can serve as part of a covered dental practice’s HIPAA training, it is not intended as a replacement for an ongoing, tailored, well-documented workforce training program.
Dr. Licking added that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can assess a fine of $1.5 million per each part of HIPAA violated per year. State and local governments may also assess fines for HIPAA violations.
The webinar will also stream Sept. 24 and Nov. 16 for audiences not available to view it on Aug. 9. The ADA News will announce future webinar registration availability.
Continuing education credit is not available; ADA staff will conduct the webinar.
To help dentists keep up with HIPAA regulations, the ADA offers the ADA Complete HIPAA Compliance Kit (J598). Readers can save 15 percent on the HIPAA kit and all ADA Catalog products with promo code 18130 until July 31. To order, visit ADAcatalog.org or call 1-800-947-4746.