HIPAA Compliant

Many EA clinicians believe that they are exempted from the HIPAA regulations because they do not submit any bills electronically or do not bill Medicare or Medicaid. Also, they do not see themselves as “health care plans”. EAPs can be “business associates” of Covered Entities, which are subject to the privacy and security responsibilities, along with the exercise of individual rights by a client. The advice from many professional organizations is that, while it is tentatively possible for a therapist not to trigger the Privacy Rule, it is recommended that all the EA clinicians become HIPAA compliant. Whether you are considered to be a Covered Entity or not, you are likely to be judged by HIPAA standards every time. All EA clinicians should consider becoming HIPAA compliant; HIPAA not only deals with electronic billing, it is also about:

• Adopting new privacy protection rules and procedures.
• Providing full information to clients about their privacy rights.
• Developing new consents and authorizations for clients.
• Keeping the records in computers safely and secure
• Organizing the clinical records to separate out and protect clinical/psychotherapy notes, if you wish.

Most private insurers are quickly moving towards 100% reliance on electronic submission. If you do not bill electronically, you may be left behind if you ever need or want to bill third parties. All of healthcare sectors are moving towards sharing and storing health information electronically.