HIPAA for Dental Practices: The Basics

The importance of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for dental offices cannot be overstated. Every staff member at dental and oral surgery practices knows how essential it is to keep patient data protected. And, staying on top of compliance means understanding the basics.

This blog is not intended to be legal advice! But, it’s a good overview of HIPAA for dental and oral surgery practices.

The Backstory on HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was signed into law in 1996. It was created in part to improve the safety of information in healthcare settings. Over the years, there have been additions to HIPAA, since the landscape of protecting information continues to evolve. 

Like many laws, it is complex, but it also affects your dental or oral surgery practice in specific ways. Complying to HIPAA at dental offices is the business of every staff member.

So, let’s dive in!

PHI: Protection & Consent

To keep protected health information safe, we first need to understand what it includes. Essentially, it includes any information by which someone could identify who the patient is, such health conditions, their healthcare insurance provider, or medical and treatment plans. But it isn’t just information relating to the patient’s health that matters. It’s also other information, such as their name, address, birth date, and Social Security number in the United States or Social Insurance Number in Canada.

And, as you probably know, PHI must be protected at all times. That is true whether it is stored digitally, on paper, or shared verbally. 

In dental offices, it’s always key to get patient consent and authorization to use and share health information for all kinds of purposes, including treatment, payment, and daily operations. In the case of marketing and research, patients must give explicit authorization. Plus, dental offices need to keep records of the times patients gave their consent!

HIPAA for Dental Offices: Three Important Rules to Know

#1: The Privacy Rule

Patients have specific rights when it comes to their health information, specifically, their medical records and other personally identifiable information. They can access their own protected health information , ask for corrections if something is wrong, and get a record of who has seen their information. To support these rights, dental offices need to have procedures in place to help patients with their requests. Additionally, only the minimum necessary information should be shared to meet the intended purpose. This means you should always consider how much PHI is needed before using or sharing it.

#2: The Security Rule

To protect electronic protected health information, dental and oral surgery practices must implement various safeguards. These include administrative measures like setting policies, physical measures such as securing the office and computer systems, and technical measures like using encryption and access controls. In addition, there should be regular security risk assessments to ensure everything is up to date. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) actually offers a helpful risk assessment tool for small and medium-sized healthcare providers! All staff members, whether they work in administration or directly with patients, must be trained on HIPAA policies and the importance of keeping patient information safe.

#3: The Breach Notification Rule

If there is a data breach involving unsecured PHI, dentists must notify the affected individuals, the HHS, and sometimes the media, depending on how large and serious the breach is. These notifications should be sent out as soon as possible, but no later than 60 days after the breach is discovered. This rule ensures that patients are informed and can take necessary actions to protect themselves.

Compliance and Non-Compliance to HIPAA

What Happens Compliance Doesn’t Occur

Not following HIPAA rules can lead to serious problems for dental and oral surgery practices. Violating these rules can result in big fines, ranging from $100 to $50,000 for each violation, with a maximum fine of $1.5 million per year. If someone breaks these rules on purpose, they might even face criminal charges. Additionally, non-compliance can hurt the practice’s reputation and cause patients to lose trust in their care.

Maintaining Ongoing Compliance

To stay compliant with HIPAA, dentists and oral surgeons should regularly check their practices. This means conducting audits to find and fix any issues that might put patient information at risk. It’s also important to keep up with any changes or updates to HIPAA regulations, as these can change over time.

Working with Third-Party Service Providers

Dental and oral surgery practices often work with third parties, like billing services or IT providers, that might have access to patient information. To make sure these third parties also follow HIPAA rules, dentists and oral surgeons need to have a Business Associate Agreement with each of them. This agreement helps ensure that everyone involved is protecting patient information properly.

Don’t Forget About Data Disposal!

Part of complying to HIPAA at dental and oral surgery practices is proper data disposal. What this means is:

• Any paper records containing PHI should be shredded once they are no longer needed.
• Electronic devices that hold patient data must be wiped clean so that the information can’t be recovered. 

Not only does this protect patient privacy, but it also ensures that your dental practice stays within the law, avoiding hefty fines and penalties. 

Intiveo’s Commitment to Security

One of the reasons we care so much about security is that it’s key to patient engagement!  We are proud to have continuously maintained high HIPAA and PIPEDA compliance standards, including SOC 2 compliance through a SOC 2 Type 1 audit. This helps ensure that anyone using our platform adheres to HIPAA and PIPEDA regulations. 

Would you like more insights for your dental practice? We offer several resources including guides, self-assessments, templates packages, and more! Check them out here, or tune into our podcast!

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