HERAE Complies with HIPAA Standards

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is having a profound impact on the healthcare industry. HIPAA mandates the establishment of standards governing the security and privacy of individually-identifiable health information that is electronically transmitted or maintained by providers, payers and clearinghouses. In addition, the Administrative Simplification provision of HIPAA mandates the creation of standards for certain healthcare transactions between covered entities, as well as the adoption of standard code sets and national identifiers for employers, health plans and providers.

On January 7 of 2008, HERAE received full accreditation with The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC). This independent, not-for-profit agency provides peer evaluation of an organization's ability to perform at industry-established levels. This is a significant achievement reinforcing HERAE's HIPAA compliance.

HERAE complies with relevant HIPAA regulations. Moreover, we are prepared to help you on your course towards HIPAA compliance on these fronts:

Transaction Standards

HERAE supports the ANSI X12 transaction standards mandated by HIPAA. In addition, HERAE is a clearinghouse as defined by HIPAA and as such can also accept non-compliant formats from payers and send non-compliant formats to providers due to our translation capabilities.

Privacy

HERAE complies with the HIPAA Privacy regulations as they relate to clearinghouses and business associates. For example, we have designated a privacy officer, and all employees and agents sign a HIPAA Confidentiality Statement stating that they understand the importance of ensuring the confidentiality of protected health information.

Security

HERAE's security is multi-faceted: From a physical perspective, the data center includes continuous video surveillance, security breach alarms, and 24/7 on-premises security officers. To learn more about HERAE security, go to our security page.

HERAE's network includes a tightly constrained firewall that prevents all but two types of requests from reaching the web application servers. It also prevents all outside traffic from reaching the database servers. Furthermore, each user account is password protected; HERAE automatically logs out the user after a pre-determined period of inactivity; and HERAE automatically disables logins after a fixed number of consecutive failed attempts.

Provider Compliance

HERAE works closely with provider office staff during the implementation of HERAE software. We suggest password best practices and provide configuration services to assist physician offices comply with HIPAA as it relates to their use of HERAE.

We'll Stay Current and Help You to Do So

HERAE reviews its policies and procedures on an ongoing basis, so our practices are subject to change. HERAE will continue to adjust its practices as laws and regulations in this newly legislated field are modified, clarified and re-interpreted. We will communicate any changes in our position to payers and providers, and help you to understand how changes may affect you as well.