HIPAA Compliance Regulations: A Deep Dive into the Telehealth Services and Its Influence on Healthcare Providers
According to a McKinsey & Company analysis , telehealth utilization has increased by 38% from the pre-COVID-19 baseline. The increased use of telehealth technology such as audio and video conferencing tools, cloud storage, third-party apps, digital charts, and so on has raised eyebrows in the industry, for valid reasons. Since the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly known as HIPAA, provides a federal baseline for privacy measures related to protected health information (PHI), the regulation is obviously looked upon in matters like these. HIPAA regulations apply to four distinct groups in the sector: healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and business associates. The first three groups are known as covered entities , and they are obliged to comply with all HIPAA regulations and are subject to fines in case of non-compliance. The last group, business associates (BAs), must also strictly adhere to the HIPAA regulations, and PHI exchang