Discover how HIPAA Policies & Procedures can benefit your organization.
The Policy and Procedures are the best practices that our industry experts have formulated to comply with the technical requirements of the HIPAA Security Rule. The policies spell out what your organization will do while the procedures detail how you will do it. In the event of an audit, the first thing an auditor will inspect are the Policies and Procedures documentation. This is more than a suggested way of doing business. The Policies and Procedures have been carefully thought out and vetted, referencing specific code sections in the Security Rule and supported by the other reports include with the HIPAA Compliance module.
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Open in new tab What are the core HIPAA policies and procedures for Florida medical practices?
For Florida medical practices, compliance begins with a living document of policies that go beyond generic templates. The core requirements include:
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Access Control Policies: Defining exactly who can see ePHI and under what specific conditions.
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Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP): A Florida-specific notice given to patients at their first point of service, detailing their rights under both federal HIPAA law and Florida’s Patient Brokering Act.
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Sanction Policies: Clear, written consequences for employees who violate privacy protocols.
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Breach Notification Procedures: A step-by-step roadmap for notifying the HHS and affected individuals within 24 hours of activating a contingency plan (a critical 2025 standard).
How often should a HIPAA Risk Assessment be performed?
Under 2025 standards, a HIPAA Risk Assessment is no longer a “one-and-done” annual task. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) requires a documented assessment at least once every 12 months, or whenever a “material change” occurs in your environment. At GiaSpace, we recommend a refresh after:
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Implementing a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) system.
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Moving your practice data to a cloud-based platform.
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Opening a new satellite office in cities like Ocala or Jacksonville.
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Any security incident, no matter how small, to identify and patch the vulnerability.
What is the difference between the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the Security Rule?
Think of the Privacy Rule as the “Who” and “When”—it sets the standards for who can access Protected Health Information (PHI) and when it can be shared (covering oral, paper, and electronic formats). The Security Rule is the “How”—it focuses exclusively on electronic PHI (ePHI) and the technical, physical, and administrative safeguards required to keep that data safe from hackers. While the Privacy Rule protects a patient’s rights to their data, the Security Rule ensures the technical infrastructure (like encryption and firewalls) is actually standing guard.
How can managed IT services automate HIPAA documentation?
Managed IT services eliminate the “manual scramble” of audit preparation. Through a unified Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) platform, GiaSpace automates your documentation by:
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Continuous Evidence Collection: Automatically logging every system access and configuration change in real-time.
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Automated Asset Discovery: Maintaining a written technology inventory that updates as soon as a new device joins the network.
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Policy Distribution & Tracking: Automatically sending updated training modules to staff and logging their completion certificates. This “Audit-Ready” automation transforms compliance from a stressful annual event into a background process that runs 24/7.
Conclusion
With over 20 years of experience supporting healthcare networks in Gainesville, Miami, and Orlando, GiaSpace has managed HIPAA compliance for 500+ endpoints across Florida, ensuring medical practices remain secure and audit-ready.
Published: Feb 12, 2017
