What Are HIPAA Certifications?
Is your team HIPAA compliant? What is HIPAA Certification? HIPAA violations cost thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars in fines, so you need to be sure.
Seeking out HIPAA certifications is a great way to provide formal HIPAA training to individual staff members or for whole teams. Certifications can teach your staff all about the basics of the law, how to implement it, and how to oversee others and ensure compliance.
Keep reading to learn how HIPAA certifications can protect your organization.
What Are HIPAA Certifications?
HIPAA certifications are the product of programs and courses that teach participants about the basics of HIPAA and what it means to be HIPAA compliant. It's important to know that there's no "official" HIPAA certification, nor does the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) require healthcare employees to have HIPAA certification.
The only requirement is that your employees must receive some type of HIPAA training and confirm in writing that they did receive it.
Instead, these HIPAA certifications are more like qualifications. They're a lot like what you might take to supplement your career in other ways. For example, if you work in IT, you might seek out additional certifications to improve your skills, but those certifications aren't required for the job.
You seek out HIPAA certifications from education providers who offer private certifications.
Why Choose HIPAA Certifications?
HIPAA certifications are popular because the rules are not only complicated but ever-changing. A one-hour introductory seminar doesn't cut it. As a covered entity or business associate, you want to ensure that every employee has the same knowledge baseline to protect your organization and patients from privacy breaches. It's common for HIPAA covered entities to request their business associates to provide proof of education.
Note: HIPAA certifications don't mean you're HIPAA compliant. You need to put in the work to ensure you can demonstrate your HIPAA compliance in practice.
What Certifications Are Available?
There's a wide range of HIPAA certifications available for health care workers and those who work as business associates. Courses may deal with subjects like:
- HIPAA for business associates
- HIPAA for dentists
- HIPAA for sales professionals
- Compliance, ethics, and fraud
- Cybersecurity and awareness
In other words, there is a training course and certification available for every worker who must uphold HIPAA. All you need to do is find the one that best suits your teams!
Get Started on Your HIPAA Certifications Today
HHS doesn't require HIPAA certifications, and there's no one certification everyone needs. However, they offer real value both to covered entities and business associates. When your team takes the same certification course, you can be sure everyone has the same foundation of knowledge. When you know what your employees know, you are better able to prevent HIPAA violations.
Are you on the hunt for the right HIPAA certification? HIPAA Exams uses a full learning management system to make delivering HIPAA training easy. Check out our most popular HIPAA courses or get in touch to learn about your subscription plans.
