HIPAA: Making Your Healthcare Career More Flexible

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996 to maintain patient safety and confidentiality. The details of HIPAA are essential to most healthcare-related offices, and a distance learning course can improve your industry knowledge--and your employability.
For patients, HIPAA means secure and fair coverage when they need it most. For healthcare professionals, it is a protector of rights and responsibilities. The act is composed of several laws and regulations, and a typical HIPAA course online will likely be split into two major components:

• Laws and Standards: A detailed set of laws within HIPAA regulates group and individual health service plans, healthcare fraud and abuse, administrative policy, and liability.
• Privacy Regulations: Privacy is an important part of HIPAA. The Privacy Rule, a recent modification to HIPAA's privacy standards, changed in 2003 the way certain protected health information is handled.

An online training module for HIPAA should deal with both components of HIPAA in order to keep future employees up-to-date on the rules of the complex act.

Distance Learning for Career Advancement

Employers in health insurance documentation, billing, and medical records fields often prefer or require employees to have prior HIPAA training. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, medical billing clerks need to understand and follow HIPAA regulations. No training course can guarantee a particular career or salary, but online training is a smart idea in a field that favors formal education.
Online degrees can benefit individuals looking for new work in the healthcare industry, but a HIPAA online training course can also do wonders for a group of employees in an established company. You may also want to look into general healthcare degree programs, which may include HIPAA training in the curriculum. Employers looking for a simple way to keep their employee HIPAA requirements up to date should consider distance learning as a solution.

Amelia Gray is a teacher and freelance writer in San Marcos, TX. Amelia earned a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from Arizona State University.