EHR Security Best Practices for Chiropractic Practices: A HIPAA Compliance Checklist

Administrative Safeguards

Administrative safeguards are the policies, procedures, and training programs that govern how ePHI is accessed and used within the practice. The most important administrative safeguards are: a written HIPAA security policy; a designated HIPAA Security Officer; annual HIPAA security training for all staff; a workforce access management policy; and a sanctions policy for staff who violate HIPAA requirements.

The annual security risk assessment is the cornerstone of HIPAA administrative compliance. OCR audits consistently find that the failure to conduct regular risk assessments is one of the most common HIPAA violations.

Technical Safeguards

Pryme Practice implements all required technical safeguards as core platform features. Role-based access controls ensure that staff can only access the patient records and functions relevant to their role. Comprehensive audit logs track all access to patient records. AES-256 encryption protects ePHI at rest, and TLS 1.2+ encryption protects ePHI in transit. Automatic session timeouts prevent unauthorized access when a workstation is left unattended.

Breach Response Planning

Despite best efforts at prevention, security breaches can occur. HIPAA requires covered entities to have a written breach response plan. Affected patients must be notified within 60 days of discovering a breach, and OCR must be notified within 60 days for breaches affecting 500 or more individuals. Having a written breach response plan and designating a staff member responsible for breach response ensures that the practice can respond quickly and correctly if a breach occurs.