HIPAA

Access Point Consulting is a trusted cybersecurity consultancy with a specialization in HIPAA compliance. Our team possesses deep expertise in the regulations set forth by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). We are committed to ensuring you achieve full compliance with HIPAA within your organization, enabling you to concentrate on your primary objectives. In doing so, we aim to alleviate the burden of internal compliance resources and the associated overhead cost, allowing you to allocate your resources more effectively.

Our Approach

Because the enforcement of HIPAA compliance comes from outside your company, our validation and proactive approach can enhance trust and credibility with patients, partners, and regulatory bodies, as it demonstrates a responsible approach to safeguarding sensitive healthcare information. Our approach follows three central tenets:

Transparency

Transparency is at the core of our approach to HIPAA compliance at Access Point. We believe in reporting all findings, whether positive or negative, to ensure you have a clear understanding of your compliance status. By providing comprehensive assessments, we empower your informed decision-making on HIPAA compliance initiatives.

Leadership

The surge in regulatory demands across healthcare has heightened the industry’s vulnerability to investigations, underscoring the criticality of a robust HIPAA compliance program. Effective compliance leadership serves as a key resource to oversee and manage the intricacies of the HIPAA compliance program on a daily basis. By providing guidance and implementing best practices, the strong compliance leadership we provide spares your organization from regulatory troubles while ensuring ongoing compliance with HIPAA regulations.

Collaboration

We take a collaborative approach to guide your organization towards HIPAA compliance, leveraging the collective expertise of various Access Point departments. By working synergistically, we ensure that your systems meet the necessary regulations and standards. Our Compliance team supports other internal departments by staying abreast of changes in regulations, industry standards, and emerging threats, keeping everyone informed and aligned. This allows us to capitalize on each other's strengths to deliver optimal outcomes to our clients.

Program Deliverables

Policy Development & Implementation

Policies are high-level statements of intention that set the expectations for meeting the organizational objectives (e.g. “We will encrypt data at rest, in use and in transit”). Access Point can assess current policies, identify any gaps, and assist with implementing and socializing the new policies to ensure they adhere to the proper regulations.

Awareness & Training

As technology continues to evolve so does the volume and variety of cyber threats and attacks. In addition, with more than 300 million people now working remotely, insider threats can cost companies an average of $7.5 million annually. Access Point can help organizations promote a cybersecurity awareness culture by implementing continuous training and educating staff, contractors, and third parties on the risk they could pose to the company through their daily activities.

Audit Readiness

Achieving audit readiness can be challenging due to the ever-changing landscape of complex cyber and privacy laws and regulatory requirements. Access Point will review your organization’s administrative, technical, and physical controls against security control frameworks to ensure they are compliant with relevant regulatory and legal statutes. Our team will provide clients with detailed reports outlining compliance status and will include recommended actions.

IT General Controls (ITGCs) Assessment

To support IT applications, it is important to have the appropriate controls in place to ensure that applications are working as intended. The areas of focus for ITGCs are Access Control, Change Management, DevOps, and Program Management. Access Point can perform an overall assessment of the management controls in the organization’s environment to determine if and where there are gaps. Our services ensure that systems, processes, and procedures are aligned with the current controls and operate effectively.

An Overview of HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law enacted in 1996 that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information in the United States. HIPAA is designed to protect the privacy of patients' health information and to establish national standards for the electronic exchange, privacy, and security of health-related information. It applies to covered entities, including health plans, health care clearinghouses, and certain health care providers, as well as to business associates of these entities that have access to protected health information (PHI).

HIPAA compliance involves adhering to the requirements set forth in the Privacy Rule, the Security Rule, and the Breach Notification Rule:

The Privacy Rule establishes standards for the protection of individuals' medical records and other personal health information

The Security Rule specifies a series of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for covered entities to use to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and security of electronic protected health information (e-PHI).

The Breach Notification Rule requires covered entities and their business associates to provide notification following a breach of unsecured PHI.