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So what is an audit and how do I handle it? An audit from the Office of Civil Rights will require you to provide a copy of your last risk assessment and your last report, HIPAA compliance training logs, and your book of evidence. It is imperative for covered entities and business associates to be proactive with regular risk assessments and compliance training, and to stay current with all policies and procedures. As we’ve stated before, the Book of Evidence is a requirement, it contains all of your policies and procedures on how you handle PHI and ePHI. This also includes your business continuity and your data breach plan. Having your Book of Evidence ready at all times can help an audit process go much smoother, and hopefully take less time. Especially, if the Book of Evidence is up to date, and your training records are all current.
In this lesson, we'll be covering what an audit by the Office for Civil Rights could entail, ways to help prevent an audit or make one go more smoothly, and why having a Book of Evidence is so vital. At the end of the lesson, we'll stick with our recent looks at HIPAA violations with a Word about criminal penalties for HIPAA violations.
An audit by the Office for Civil Rights requires you to provide the following:
Pro Tip #1: When it comes to HIPAA in general, and particularly with audits, it's imperative for all business associates and covered entities to be as proactive (rather than reactive) as possible. What does being proactive look like? Great question!
You can be proactive, first and foremost, by covering all your bases regarding the following:
As we've stated before, your Book of Evidence is a HIPAA requirement (and not a suggestion). A good Book of Evidence must include, but isn't limited to, the following:
Pro Tip #2: Having your Book of Evidence ready at all times can help an audit process go much more smoothly and hopefully speed things up a bit as well, especially if your Book of Evidence is up-to-date and all of your training records are current.