HIPAA Privacy Officer

Confluence Health•Wenatchee, WA

21h

About The Position

The HIPAA Privacy Officer and Patient Civil Rights Coordinator is responsible for developing and operating the HIPAA Privacy and Patient Civil Rights programs for Confluence Health and its affiliates. The role develops, implements, and maintains policies and procedures and carries out education, investigations, monitoring, and auditing. It reports to the Compliance Officer. The position oversees privacy and civil rights compliance, including investigations and grievances, access and disclosure monitoring, training, business associate agreements, breach determinations and notifications, patient rights, and the organization's language access plan. It collaborates with the HIPAA Security Officer, IT, Health Information Management leadership, Human Resources, managers, and external regulators and accreditation bodies. The role maintains current knowledge of applicable laws and standards and communicates with patients, families, staff, and management with empathy and kindness.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree and/or a nationally recognized privacy certification (for example, CHPC, CHPS, or CIPP).
Three years of related experience in HIPAA Privacy and/or regulatory compliance.
High level of integrity and trust.
Extensive knowledge and experience with state and federal information privacy laws and patient civil rights laws.
Ability to communicate effectively in written and verbal form.

Nice To Haves

Strong organizational skills.
Demonstrated collaboration, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.
Extensive familiarity with healthcare-related legislation and standards for protecting health information and patient privacy.
Effective presentation skills.
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.

Responsibilities

Build and manage a strategic, comprehensive privacy program, including policies and procedures that safeguard the confidentiality of protected health information.
Conduct HIPAA Privacy and Civil Rights investigations, respond to related patient grievances, and ensure mitigation and resolution where necessary.
Collaborate with Human Resources, managers, and senior leadership directors to ensure consistent application of sanctions.
Ensure privacy and confidentiality forms, notices, educational materials, facility signage, policies, standards, and procedures are used appropriately and kept current.
Partner with training teams and department management to support adequate educational efforts.
Monitor patterns of inappropriate access to or disclosure of protected health information and review and approve internal and external requests for EHR access.
Provide or ensure HIPAA Privacy and Civil Rights training and orientation for employees, volunteers, medical and professional staff, and applicable business associates.
Participate in developing, implementing, and monitoring business associate agreements to address privacy requirements and responsibilities.
Work with Health Information Management leadership to oversee patient rights to inspect, amend, and restrict access to protected health information where appropriate.
Manage required breach determinations, tracking, and notification processes under federal and state requirements.
Develop and maintain the organization's language access plan.
Collaborate with the HIPAA Security Officer to align Security and Privacy compliance programs and liaise with IT on the HIPAA Privacy program.
Establish, with the HIPAA Security Officer, an ongoing process to track, investigate, and report inappropriate access to and disclosure of protected health information.
Cooperate with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, state regulators, accrediting bodies, and other external entities during compliance reviews, investigations, or surveys.
Maintain current knowledge of applicable federal and state privacy and patient civil rights laws, regulations, and accreditation standards.
Communicate effectively and empathetically with patients, families, staff, and management to address concerns, expectations, and questions.
Perform other duties as assigned and adhere to the Standards of Behavior and Code of Conduct.