With the 2016 Summer Olympics in full swing I thought it apropos to use the analogy of achieving a gold medal to obtaining HIPAA compliance. I know, not really fair or nice to the Olympics and Olympians, but it makes a decent blog post and a good analogy. So, bear with me and work on achieving your HIPAA gold medal.
Vision
You need a clear vision. You will obtain your goal of being HIPAA compliant. You need to clearly understand what that requires. Take our Free Risk Assessment to better understand what is now required by law to be HIPAA compliant.
Mindset
Just like an Olympian has to have the proper mindset, or mental fortitude, to achieve the highest award in sports, you too need to make the decision to achieve HIPAA compliance. It’s going to take a lot of time, effort, money, sweat and tears to become the best or be compliant. Once you’re performing at the peak you must continue practicing to maintain that level of performance. Compliance is a culture, a way of life, how you should be operating your business.
Plan
Becoming a Gold Medal Olympian doesn’t happen because you decide you want to be one. You must have a plan. You need to understand what steps are required to become the best athlete or compliant. It’s best if you perform an assessment of where you are and what is needed to reach your goal (gap analysis), then sketch out a plan and timeline to obtain the goal. You’ll need training, work on correcting things you’re not doing or how to do them better, you should write down policies of how you will do certain things and the steps to do them properly (policies and procedures). Most medal winners have great coaches that provide expertise, experience, leadership, planning and encouragement to obtain their goals. You might want or need a HIPAA coach to help you achieve your HIPAA gold medal.
Communications (Talk)
The entire team needs to understand the Vision and Plan for how to achieve it. Set a clear vision, then write an outline on how the team will take action to become HIPAA compliant. It makes it much easier when everyone is in the same boat and rowing in the same direction. Let the team know the office will become HIPAA compliant, it will take 6 months. Everyone will need to do their part. HIPAA training will be provided to each individual. Set the expectation that the entire office will create and maintain a “culture of compliance™”. It means the entire staff will provide better and safer care to patients who ultimately pay the bills.
Action (Hard Work)
What sets the Olympian medalist apart from the rest? Sometimes it’s 1/1000th of a second, but what got them there was action, they practiced over and over and over. Their actions became muscle memory. They worked hard to make it to the highest stage in the world. They built a culture of consistent training and practice. Their daily operations were to get better or maintain their superior level of performance.
You will need to work on your plan to improve your compliance over the next year. Then you will need to maintain your compliance. The key is to make HIPAA compliance part of your office culture. Once you have created a “culture of compliance™”, being compliant becomes second nature, it’s part of running a more efficient, effective, productive, profitable and safer healthcare business.
Check out our free resources to help you achieve your HIPAA Gold medal. The information provided in our resources and on our Third Rock Assurance™ solution and our CompassDB™ Compliance Management Platform pages will help you understand the steps you will need to take to become HIPAA compliant.