Workload Overlap Between HIPAA and Meaningful Use

Can you kill two birds with one stone?

This article is an excerpt from our downloadable ebook, How to Leverage HIPAA for Meaningful Use.

As most of you know, covered entities that handle protected health information (PHI) are required to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Many healthcare professionals like you and the entities you work for also participate in Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.

Feel like watching a webinar about how the Meaningful Use security risk analysis relates to HIPAA instead?

This ebook covers the overlap between HIPAA and Meaningful Use, including two important security protocols to help protect patient data. The goal of this ebook is to help you save time, money, and other resources by leveraging your HIPAA compliance requirements for Meaningful Use attestation.

Meaningful Use and HIPAA Overlap

Will your Meaningful Use attestation count 100% for HIPAA compliance? No. Will HIPAA compliance count 100% for Meaningful Use attestation? No. There is no complete overlap between Meaningful Use and HIPAA.

However, there is enough overlap to make a significant impact.

A risk analysis is one main requirement that applies to both Meaningful Use and HIPAA.

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Check out this blog for an additional take on Meaningful Use vs HIPAA.

Common Risk Analysis Questions

Both HIPAA and Meaningful Use require a risk analysis. All stages of Meaningful Use include some element of a risk analysis and data security.

Will your Meaningful Use risk analysis cover your HIPAA risk analysis? Unfortunately too often the answer is, no. Entities get hung up on thinking that Meaningful Use is focused just on the certified EHR technology (CEHRT).

Will your HIPAA risk analysis cover your Meaningful Use risk analysis? Normally yes, as long as you’ve done a complete and thorough analysis. The HIPAA risk analysis encompasses the CEHRT, as well as all PHI including paper records, emails, calendars, other systems, etc. Because the risk analysis includes the CEHRT, it also counts for Meaningful Use measures.

Download the How to Leverage HIPAA for Meaningful Use ebook to dive deeper into how a HIPAA Risk Analysis can qualify for Meaningful Use requirements.