Waukee, Iowa
October 30, 2007
Under the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), all health care workers who come into contact with confidential health information are required to comply with HIPAA and receive privacy and patient rights protection training. In practice, the level of compliance with HIPAA privacy and training requirements varies widely across the country. And recently lapses in compliance with the patient privacy provisions have caused serious difficulties for a growing number of patients, health care providers and their business associates.
Nationally, one company that is working to improve quality in the area of HIPAA compliance is the HIPAA Academy. The HIPAA Academy is a division of ecfirst.com. Ecfirst.com announced today that it has been advised that a review of its program has found that its HIPAA Certification Online tm training program meets all of HealthFront’s national standards for comprehensiveness of privacy training.
HealthFront has designated the HIPAA Academy online training program as meeting 100% of its detailed standards for HIPAA training in the three critical areas of:
- General Privacy Training
- Patient Rights Training, and
- Training in Administrative Procedures
One result of this designation is that ecfirst.com has been granted the right to use the HealthFront Excellence in HIPAA Privacy and Patient Rights (SM) seal on its website and promotional materials. More importantly perhaps, it means that any client using the HIPAA Certification Online tm program, who can demonstrate that they have provided training to a sufficient number of their staff and volunteers, can also apply to receive the HealthFront seal of Excellence, knowing that they already meet HealthFront’s national HIPAA comprehensiveness standards.
About HealthFront
HealthFront, a non-profit organization based in Minnesota which was originally formed to carry forward the widely recognized Excellence in Quality Awards developed by a coalition of large employers (the Buyers Health Care Action Group) in 1998. At its founding, HealthFront was charged the responsibility of bringing the benefits of quality recognition to the national health care community. Its current activities include: national recognition programs for Excellence in Comprehensive Disease Management (with awards for quality in the management of Asthma, Diabetes and Coronary Artery Disease), recognition of Excellence in the Management of Preventive services, recognition of Innovations in Health Care Quality, Excellence in HIPAA Privacy and Resident Rights Training for nursing homes and the Excellence in HIPAA Privacy and Patient Rights program.
For the last several years HealthFront has been conducting a research project studying how quality incentives, including recognition of excellence, motivate providers to improvement quality of care. As Brad Montgomery, Executive Director of HealthFront puts it “We have come to understand that public recognition of quality is a strong motivator for improvement. It seems to empower the champions of quality improvement within the provider organizations. HealthFront believes that recognizing excellence can serve as an incentive for improvement at the same time as it gives consumers information on quality of care that they need to make informed decisions. ”
In the Excellence in HIPAA Privacy and Patient Rights Training program quality is judged in two categories. One category is the percent of people (employees and others) who have received the required training. The other category reviews how “comprehensive” that training has been. Applicant organizations who can demonstrate high levels of quality in both of these categories will receive a HealthFront Excellence in Quality certificate indicating that they have met the program’s high HIPAA compliance standards. What is the value of such a certificate? HealthFront’s Montgomery puts it this way, “In today’s increasingly competitive market, providers are struggling to find ways to make their quality shine through to the consumer. These types of recognition program’s can help them to do that.”
About HIPAA Academy
The HIPAA Academy a division of ecfirst.com is exclusively endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), the HIPAA Academy has trained tens of thousands on compliance regulations. The HIPAA Academy delivers compliance solutions across the United States every day. The HIPAA Academy's deep knowledge of the HIPAA, FISMA, ISO17799, Sarbanes-Oxley, COBIT and other regulations regarding Enterprise Security is substantiated with hands-on experience implementing technical solutions in the healthcare industry. The HIPAA Academy introduced the industries first, and today's leading, credentials for HIPAA skills certification: Certified HIPAA Professional (CHP) and Certified HIPAA Security Specialist™ (CHSS™) and the Certified Security Compliance Specialist™ (CSCS™) training and certification the only training of its kind explaining and comparing all security regulations.
Clients include several U.S. federal government agencies such as U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, Coast Guard, Air Force, Army, hundreds of hospitals including University Hospitals, numerous U.S. State governments, IBM, HP, E&Y, D&T, BCBS affiliates, clearinghouses, long term care businesses, healthcare technology vendors, and many other organizations.
ecfirst.com, home of The HIPAA Academy, specializes in delivering IT services to the health care and financial industries. ecfirst.com, in business since 1999, was recognized as an Inc. 500 fastest growing privately held business in the United States in its first year of eligibility. With a consistent annualized growth rate of over 115%, ecfirst.com and the HIPAA Academy have established an organization with deep hands-on experience in IT services and a who’s who client list that includes BCBS affiliates, several hospitals, federal, state and county governments/agencies and hundreds of other organizations. ecfirst.com is a minority owned Targeted Small Business certified by the State of Iowa.
The business employs over 40 professionals with a diversity of skilled backgrounds that include Web application development, InfoSec consulting, HIPAA consulting, project management, risk analysis and contingency planning. In addition, the organization has a dedicated team of employment recruiters focused on fulfilling client staffing project requirements.
