In today’s digital world, when sensitive medical data is essential to patient care, navigating the complexities of healthcare privacy is crucial. For instance, the HIPAA Privacy Rule states that protected health information (PHI) may be disclosed and used for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations without a patient’s consent by HIPAA-compliant covered entities and their business partners. So, while it protects PHI from unauthorized access, it allows the sharing such sensitive information to promote high-quality healthcare.
This may put any healthcare provider or organization in trouble unless they adhere to the HIPAA minimum required standard. According to the HIPAA minimum requirement, covered organizations must make reasonable endeavors to ensure that PHI access is limited to what is necessary to meet the purpose of the disclosure, request, or usage. In such a scenario, the patient must consent by signing a HIPAA form, also known as a HIPAA permission form, to release medical information before PHI is shared with businesses or persons for purposes other than treatment, healthcare operations, or payment.
This blog will discuss what a HIPAA form is, when it is required, and its requirements.
What is a HIPAA Release Form?
A HIPAA release form, sometimes referred to as a HIPAA authorization or consent form, is a legal document that a person signs granting permission for their protected health information (PHI) to be disclosed to certain people or entities or used by authorized personnel at covered entities for purposes other than treatment, payment, and health care operations.
Any successful HIPAA compliance program must include HIPAA release forms. Keeping patient data private requires proper HIPAA authorization and release forms because of the sensitive nature of the protected health information (PHI) that medical professionals deal with daily.
The most crucial thing to remember while using HIPAA release forms is that, as a healthcare practitioner, you have to make sure that all of your patients have given you their express consent to share their PHI with any third parties. You may also come across some exclusions regarding regular disclosures that fall under the purview of medical operations, payment, or treatment.
When are HIPAA Release Forms Required?
When using and disclosing protected health information for purposes other than treatment, payment, and healthcare operations, covered entities must get patient consent, they also need to get consent when disclosing protected health information to a third party that the patient designates.
A HIPAA release form may be required to access medical records or to discuss health information with family members, insurance companies, healthcare providers, and other individuals and organizations.
For example, for a health plan or provider to market to a specific person, they must have signed a release form authorizing the use or distribution of their personal health information for marketing purposes. There are just two instances in which this is different: either the communication occurs during an in-person meeting between the covered business and the individual, or the communication involves a promotional present of minimal value.
What is the Purpose of a HIPAA Authorization Form?
Nurses, physicians, lab technicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers following HIPAA compliance guidelines are prohibited from using or disclosing PHI unless the patient consents. A HIPAA release form authorizes providers to use PHI for purposes other than treatment. This form can be revoked anytime, and patients are not forced to sign it. The following are some justifications for signing a HIPAA authorization form:
- giving your PHI to a lawyer handling an injury claim;
- providing access to a healthcare representative so they can inquire with your doctor about costs on your bill; and,
- giving access to the person helping you pay your medical costs so they can check the amount they are contributing.
Using a HIPAA release form, you remain safe even if someone gains access to your information. This is because healthcare professionals adhere to the minimum necessary norm, exchanging only the information required to achieve a particular objective.
What are the Requirements of a HIPAA Release Form?
A HIPAA release form must meet specific requirements to comply with the HIPAA privacy rules. These fundamental components consist of:
- the precise data that will be disclosed or used;
- the exact names of the person or people permitted to make the proposed use or disclosure;
- the precise name of any third parties to whom the covered business may disclose the information on request;
- a breakdown of each reason for the desired disclosure or service;
- a date or an occurrence of expiration related to the person or the purpose of the disclosure or use;
- the date and signature of the person whose name appears on the form or that person’s legal representative.
The form must also have wording that appropriately and clearly states the following statements in addition to these requirements:
- the option to withdraw consent at any time for every patient;
- any exclusions from the ability to withdraw permission;
- The organization may not demand that the person sign the authorization before providing payment, treatment, enrollment, or benefit eligibility except in the following situations:
- A healthcare professional may require approval for research before agreeing to treat a patient for research-related reasons.
- Enrollment in the health plan or eligibility for benefits may be subject to conditions set by the plan.
There is a possibility that the information given may no longer be covered by the Privacy Rule and thereafter, may be susceptible to HIPAA redisclosure by the recipient.
HIPAA Compliance Readiness with Akitra!
Establishing trust is a crucial competitive differentiator when courting new SaaS businesses in today’s era of data breaches and compromised privacy. Customers and partners want assurances that their organizations are doing everything possible to prevent disclosing sensitive data and putting them at risk, and compliance certification fills that need.
Akitra offers an industry-leading, AI-powered Compliance Automation platform for SaaS companies. Using automated evidence collection and continuous monitoring, together with a full suite of customizable policies and controls as a compliance foundation, our compliance automation platform and services help our customers become compliance-ready for HIPAA and other security standards, such as SOC 1, SOC 2, GDPR, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, ISO 9001, ISO 13485, NIST CSF, NIST 800-53, NIST 800-171, FedRAMP, CCPA, CMMC, SOX ITGC, and more such as CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark, Australian ISM and Essential Eight, etc. In addition, companies can use Akitra’s Risk Management product for overall risk management using quantitative methodologies such as Factorial Analysis of Information Risks (FAIR) and qualitative methods, including NIST-based for your company, Vulnerability Assessment and Pen Testing services, Trust Center, and AI-based Automated Questionnaire Response product to streamline and expedite security questionnaire response processes, delivering huge cost savings. Our compliance and security experts will provide customized guidance to navigate the end-to-end compliance process confidently. Akitra Academy provides easy-to-learn short video courses on security, compliance, and related topics of immense significance for today’s fast-growing companies.
The benefits of our solution include enormous savings in time, human resources, and cost savings, including discounted audit fees with our audit firm partners. Customers achieve compliance certification fast and cost-effectively, stay continuously compliant as they grow, and can become certified under additional frameworks using a single compliance automation platform.
Build customer trust. Choose Akitra TODAY!
To book your FREE DEMO, contact us right here.
