To gain a better understanding let examine how HIPAA benefits ITES professional.

The HIPAA legislation was put into place in 1996, but recently it was in news due to 2003 deadlines of the act. The creation of Presidential Information Security Council & Homeland Security initiatives also elevated the awareness around importance of information & data security of which HIPAA is one component.

HIPAA focuses on three areas of health care industry; administrative simplication; unique health identifiers; privacy & security. IT & ITES put these components in action. Greatest area of interest for IT professionals is security provision.

HIPAA mandates that all the patient information is to be secure, whether it is transmitted electronically or in written format. The IT divisions within the healthcare organization need to make sure that their systems & processes are in compliance with the US regulations.

Within IT there are two groups of personnel that HIPAA security touched network administrators & IT managers. Network administrators need to know how to secure the network, monitoring firewall & protect the network form intrusion.

Hence there would be a requirement of training & certification on platform of HIPAA regulation even for BPO companies who are dealing in this outsourcing domain so as to implement proper solutions.

With the growing unrest with American companies on outsourcing due to poor quality of voice support & accent mis-understandings, BPO companies focused in HIPAA should key in on certifications in HIPAA.

HIPAA academy in the USA offers all level of HIPAA training & certification. A certification program has been developed by HIPAA, which is available through prometric testing. Certifications include Certified HIPAA Administrator (CHA). Certified HIPAA Professional (CHP) & Certified HIPAA Security Specialist (CHSS).

You can visit HIPAA Academy

Amit Nayak
Mentor
ITESGrads India

October 2003