Dental PractiPractices

Here Are 5 Things That All Dental Practices Must Know About Being Compliant

 

1. All covered entities, including dental offices, are obligated under HIPAA regulations to protect patient PHI.  There are no exceptions!  Regardless of the size of your practice, you must have written policies and procedures that address the protection of PHI.  You must provide annual training in HIPAA Privacy and Security.  You must provide appropriate HIPAA documents to your patients (e.g. the Notice of Privacy Practices).  If you use a Business Associate to handle any aspect of your practice, you must have a written BAA in place.

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2. Don’t assume that because you operate a “cash only” business and provide your patients an invoice to submit to their carriers, you have no compliance obligations.  Even if your practice is not directly subject to HIPAA, patient privacy still must be maintained.

   

3. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) administers the program which protects America’s Healthcare workers.  OSHA requires dental offices to be compliant with its safety standards regardless of the size of the practice.  These obligations include but are not limited to bloodborne pathogen standards, hazard communication, annual OSHA training, and electrical safety standards.  Failure to comply with OSHA requirements will subject your practice to fines and penalties.

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4. Other standards to be met include -  a) documentation standards, b) controlled substances standards, c) licensing and certification standards, and d) billing standards.  These are all part of a comprehensive compliance program for dental practices.

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5. A smaller practice with one or two doctors and a few staff may have different compliance challenges than a multi-person practice with several locations and a larger staff.  Regardless of size and resources, all dental practices need to have a compliance program.  One way to ensure that you have met this challenge is to reach out to someone to help develop the right approach for your practice.

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Please do not hesitate to reach out to Integrated Compliance for the right help in dealing with all of these matters.