It’s back-to-school time here in America, so it’s time to think about learning what we need to know and, by expansion, training our people in what we need them to know and do. As Jon Tomes and I remind you ad nauseum on this blog, you need to provide HIPAA training to your workforce at least annually and document that training in writing to help keep you from getting that free trip to Leavenworth for a HIPAA criminal violation or an expensive trip to the bank to get a cashier’s check perhaps in the seven figures now to pay a civil money penalty for a civil HIPAA violation. The three top problem areas that lead to criminal and civil violations involve no written, and updated at least annually, risk analysis, no written, implemented, and enforced HIPAA policies and procedures based on the results of the written risk analysis, and no documented in writing proof of having trained your workforce on those HIPAA policies and procedures and other aspects of HIPAA and the HITECH Act.
One reason that we want you to think about HIPAA training this time of the year is that you will likely be benefiting from the help of shadow students, interns, other students, and volunteers who are free to help you now that their children will be back in school during the day. Remember that workforce means not only those folks on your payroll but also students, interns, and volunteers, anyone who has access to your protected health information (“PHI”) under HIPAA.
And as usual, I will be trying to sell you something. We offer several forms of HIPAA training. First, you could hire Jon Tomes to come to you onsite to train your workforce in person and answer their burning HIPAA questions, and yours. If you wonder what qualifies him to teach, consider that he taught military law at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth for several years, usually considered the best instructor, out of about 250 instructors, by a thousand students each year. He also taught law at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago for several years, where he won an actual professor of the year award. Before he retired from the U.S. Army as a JAGC Officer, he was a military attorney and a judge, so he knows how to decipher federal government regulations, and he knows how to explain to you and your workforce how to comply with them. He has also been presenting HIPAA seminars around the country for decades and now HIPAA webinars. If you would like him to come onsite to train you, your management, and your workforce, contact him at jon@veteranspress.com or on his cell at 816-527-3858 for a quote.
Second, if you would like to be able to stagger the HIPAA training throughout a week or so for various workforce members so that you can continue your practice, please consider Jon’s Basic HIPAA Training Video DVD and Workbook, available on our website at http://www.veteranspress.com/product/basic-hipaa-training-video-dvd-workbook. The workbook has a little quiz at the end for the workforce member to take so that you can keep a written record of the training for that workforce member. The DVD and workbook are included in our HIPAA Compliance Library, also available on our website at http://www.veteranspress.com/product/hipaa-compliance-library. If you buy the library, Jon will give you written permission to make copies of the workbook to give to all of your workforce members to keep at their work stations to use as a handy reference when HIPAA issues arise.
Third, if you want your workforce members to be able to complete their HIPAA training on their on schedule, consider buying our online HIPAA training program, also available on our website at http://www.veteranspress.com/product/online-hipaa-training-video-certification. It even includes a test and a way to keep written documentation of each workforce member’s completion of the training program.
As an aside, we are experiencing occasional problems with our website, so if you encounter issues, please let us know.so that we can help you get what you need from us. As always, thanks for reading Jon’s blog and buying our HIPAA compliance products and services, and best wishes for success with your HIPAA compliance efforts.
