Interpersonal Communication- HIPAA Compliance Officer
Interpersonal communication is defined as the process through which people pass information through either nonverbal or verbal means (Biocca & Levy, 2013). The different elements of interpersonal communication include context, channel, noise, feedback, and communicators. Communication is essential in any workplace since it helps in passing information between the colleagues and even along the hierarchy of the workplace. As such, it is not only necessary in giving instructions but also in settling to an agreement. A Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance officer needs communication as the primary element of bridging the gap between the different organizations and clients they work for (McGraw, 2013). Communication is of the essence in this field in informing the customers and the organizations on the regulations in this domain and carrying out the roles of an HIPAA compliance officer. According to Biocca and Levy (2013), communication should be two way in a business domain whereby the communicator passes information and awaits for the feedback. The feedback is vital in understanding whether the message has successfully been passed. The channel for passing information is also a basic determinant of the success of the interpersonal communication. Telephone communication may not have more impact that face to face communication in some cases. Therefore assessing and successfully utilizing all the requirements mentioned in the elements of interpersonal communication is necessary for playing effectively the roles of a HIPAA compliance officer.
McGraw (2013) assert that a HIPAA compliance officer plays the role of overseeing that all the activities which are related to development, implementation and adherence to the policies and the regulations of a particular organization comply with the federal and state laws and healthcare. A HIPAA compliance officer is expected to implement and effective compliance program aimed at preventing unethical, improper and illegal conduct. The role of monitoring all the organization’s activities concerning how they comply with the state HIPAAA regulation and federal necessitates effective interpersonal communication skills. Researching of information which is one of the primary tasks of a HIPAA compliance officer requires skills of approaching the organizations and researching for available resources through effective of the communication skills (McGraw, 2013). Another role of HIPAA compliance officer is to communicate any organizational update or procedure to the entire organizations. The organization is expected to comply with these regulatory requirements which should be core to the officer’s responsibility in ensuring complete compliance throughout the whole firm. Therefore, communication is essential playing the responsibility of a compliance officer.
As new regulations are developed, the compliance officers should modify the compliance program of their organization to accommodate these changes (McGraw, 2013). To come up with changes to accommodate the updates in the program, verbal communication is necessary to settle for an agreement within the workers in the workplace. The work of a compliance officer does not end once the changes in the compliance program are implemented but continues until all the changes are communicated to other departments within the organization. The primary way that can be used in the passing of such information to all the departments within the organization is through using the hierarchy in the workplace. Verbal face to face communication in a seminar with the various heads of different departments should be the first step. Once the leaders understand the changes and the effort necessary to be put towards achieving the decided changes in the organization, managing the juniors through giving them instructions can be more effective. The HIPAA compliance officer should come up with training courses and material aimed at helping the employees comprehend how the new HIPAA principles and regulations will influence the duties of the workers within the organization.
Confidentiality of patients’ information is essential in healthcare and is one of the rights that should be highly upheld when administering health services to the patients. A HIPAA officer should ensure that the patients understand the confidentiality act which protects the individuals whom the information belongs to them from being disclosed to the public (McGraw, 2013). In most of the cases, people may not know some of their rights due to lack of information and exposure. Interpersonal communication can be used in creating awareness. Once the patients understand some of their rights such as confidentiality which entails all the information is kept private in such a way that only the authorized staff can access it, there can be improved effectiveness in administering health care services. Communication is also of the essence in ensuring that the staff follows correct protocols in regards to HIPAA. As such, the compliance officer can easily pass information to the staff on what is required from them regarding HIPAA. Thereafter, the workers can be assessed on how they adhere to the set protocols or not. Listening the feedback of the staff is of essence in gauging whether the correct protocols are adhered to or not. Biocca and Levy (2013) opine that it is necessary to use the right channel when conveying message as a way of maintaining confidentiality. As such, patients should be diagnosed in privacy, and the conversation should be kept confidential only between the treating physician and the patient. Based on the technological evolvement, use of electronic means of communication is common in most institutions including the health care centers. Although all the technological modifications are intended to make communication more effective, some of the channels lead to ineffectiveness in communication as evidence in some cases where confidentiality is not maintained (Biocca & Levy, 2013). The compliance officer should ensure that communication with the patients is electronically safe hence confidentiality is still maintained.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliance dictates that every worker should be trained annually and take a test to assess the understanding and to prove that the worker has gone through the program (Lundgren & McMakin, 2013). The essence of this training is to ensure that the workers understand the HIPAA laws and inform the staff about safety within the workplace. Face to face communication is utilized in educating the workers, and other means of communication such as written communication is utilized in the tests as a way of giving the feedback. Proper use of infection control protocols is also taught during OSHA training. In addition to this training use of continuous training and doing of daily tasks is essential in improving the effectiveness of the activities within the work place. As such, healthcare organizations keep changing their work routines and activities based on the immediate needs at the workplace hence continuous training is necessary to keep the employees updated (Lundgren & McMakin, 2013). Moreover, effective interpersonal communication should be highly upheld as a way of pointing out changes that are not understood in the workplace and as a way of ensuring compliance to the set regulations.
In essence, HIPAA compliance officers are of the essence in all the workplaces in ensuring that the companies and offices comply with all the aspects related to HIPAA. Effective communication is the basic way that the officers utilize in playing their role. Employees in companies and offices should utilize interpersonal communication in airing their views and seeking information on the aspects not understood. In case activities are not conducted the right way after an assessment from the State, the involved organization can be fined.
References
Biocca, F., & Levy, M. R. (Eds.). (2013). Communication in the age of virtual reality. New York: Routledge.
Lundgren, R. E., & McMakin, A. H. (2013). Risk communication: A handbook for communicating environmental, safety, and health risks. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
McGraw, D. (2013). Building public trust in uses of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act de-identified data. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 20(1), 29-34.
