We have divided the transactions portion of HIPAA assessment in to five categories:

1. Business objectives in relationship to the standards
2. Paper/Electronic evaluation
3. Value chain definition
4. Business process identification
5. Technology quadrant

Business Objectives:
The starting point for any HIPAA assessment should be the ending point as well — the business objectives you are trying to achieve. This process involves articulating customer needs, how those needs are currently fulfilled, the information flow across trading partners, and lastly, the current and projected trading volume.

Paper/Electronic Evaluation:
This part of the assessment is mostly a numbers game. Paper or digital, we’ll identify all your transactions, qualify them by priorities and give a clear picture of your trading profile. This section also gets into systems used for creating transactions and their processes.

Value Chain:
The value chain section is important because it takes into account the methods and means of those outside your enterprise. This part of the assessment will identify weaknesses that are potentially out of your immediate control, but clearly in your sphere of influence. This section highlights suppliers, customers, and partners by frequency and method of communication.

Business Process:
The processes that each organization uses are what make that organization unique, at least from a transaction standpoint. This part of the assessment identifies all of the metadata needs with current systems and trading partners. You’ll get a handle on data transformation issues and determine systems that can be integrated, saving time and money. The results of this part of the assessment will help you identify what transactions are most appropriate to integrate and those necessary to meet HIPAA guidelines.

Technology Quadrant:
In the rush of deadlines and the marketing noise put out by software vendors, it’s easy to make bad purchases. These situations call for a steady hand, logical thinking, and most importantly a solid planning document. This HIPAA assessment goes miles further than others by specifying the types of software, hardware, and communications solutions necessary and those that are not critical. This part of the assessment alone can save dollars and embarrassment by preventing unnecessary spending on technology. Data Integration Specialists is vendor neutral and does not have any vested interest in the purchase of any HIPAA solution.