If you work anywhere in the realm of healthcare, you’re likely very familiar with HIPAA and the compliance required within the industry. In this blog post, we wanted to cover what HIPAA is, why it is so important within the behavioral health space, and what steps are needed to ensure compliance.

What is HIPAA?

What is PHI?

Protected Health Information is considered to be any personally identifiable information as it pertains to the past, present, or future health status of an individual. This covers any health information that is created, collected, transmitted, or maintained by a healthcare organization. Examples of protected health information can include diagnosis, prescriptions, treatment information, and medical test results. This also includes personal information of the patient including their name, social security number, date of birth, emergency contact, phone numbers, and email addresses. All of this information needs to be protected and kept secure to ensure that a healthcare organization can be HIPAA compliant.

Why is HIPAA So Important for Behavioral Health?

Precautions To Ensure HIPAA Compliance

During the billing process, patient information including diagnosis codes, medications, clinical notes, and other information must be shared from facility to biller, and then to the insurance provider in order for claims to be processed and paid. This means it is essential that the billing company is HIPAA Compliant. All emails, communications, and transfers of information need to be done securely and with compliance in mind.

HIPAA and Telehealth