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By Greg Garner

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a federal law enacted by the United States Congress in 1996. It was developed with the express aim of making sure that the patient information that health care professionals and organizations handle are kept secure and private. In addition to doctors and other health care professionals, HIPAA’s coverage also extends to other parts of the health care industry such as pharmacies, health insurers, medical data transcriptionists, and other entities that have access to confidential patient information.

The passage of HIPAA required health care providers to become HIPAA compliant by 2003. Under the rules and regulations put forth by the law, health care organizations all over the United States began requiring their employees to undergo training for HIPAA certification. Many companies offer in-house HIPAA testing and training for their own employees, but if you’re not affiliated with an organization that does or want to obtain a certificate on your own time, there are also numerous HIPAA certification courses being offered online.

1.

The first step to obtaining a HIPAA certificate is to look for an online course being offered by a reputable online company. This can be accomplished by doing a quick Internet search. One major advantage of web-based HIPAA certification courses is that you can take and finish their training courses at your own pace. Most of the training topics can be finished in a couple of hours, but since there is no mandatory time limit you can feel free to finish them depending on how much free time you can allot. These courses are perfect for those with full-time day jobs or classes as they don’t come with the hassle of trying to squeeze in the time that traditional classroom based training needs into an already busy schedule. A virtual online classroom also doesn’t close its doors when it gets dark, so you can spend as much time as you want reviewing or even finishing the certification course you signed up for.

2.

Online HIPAA certification courses are as comprehensive as any classroom-based course. Among the topics generally discussed in these courses are the basics of HIPAA, Insurance Reform, The Administrative Simplifications and Accountability, Standards for Electronic Transactions, Privacy Rule and Security Rule. These topics come with more basic overviews as well as more advanced, in-depth explanations that use real-life scenarios and case studies as examples. They also cover exactly who and what are affected by HIPAA as well as the implications of non-compliance and the penalties associated with them.

3.

Taking an online HIPAA certification course does not require you to download any software onto your computer. All you need is a reliable Internet connection and you will be good to go. Certificates can also be printed as soon as you finish the training process so you don’t need to wait around for it for a long time. Even better, online courses offer resource guides such as FAQs and sample documents that can be invaluable in navigating your way through the intricacies of HIPAA rules and regulations.

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