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This is the second episode in the 8-part series, Health Information Privacy and Security Policies and Procedures orientation training.
Welcome Back to the Privacy Procedure Orientation Training series!
This training series is part of the Health Information Privacy and Security Policies and Procedures that your clinic has purchased.
In this episode, we will walk through the introductory sections of the Privacy Procedure Manual and explain how to navigate its key components.
Access Your Clinic’s Privacy Procedure Manual
Before we begin, make sure you have access to your clinic’s Health Information Privacy and Security Manual—either the hard copy (often a blue binder) or the PDF version. This will help you follow along as we review the structure and content of the manual.
Navigating the Table of Contents
The Table of Contents is your roadmap to quickly find specific policies or procedures. If you’re using the PDF version, simply double-click on the privacy procedure title to link directly to that section. If you are using the paper version, flip to the corresponding page number.
Using the Index and Search Features
At the back of the manual, you’ll find the index. This is another valuable tool for finding privacy procedure topics. The index lists keywords along with the page numbers where they appear. For the PDF version, you can use the ‘Find’ command (Ctrl + F) to search for terms like “privacy procedure” or any other key concepts relevant to your clinic’s operations.
You can use Go To command to quickly go to a specific page number in the manual.
Understanding Key Sections in Your Privacy Procedure Manual
After the Table of Contents, you will find an Introduction to the manual. This section contains essential links to relevant privacy legislation and provides a version control listing at the bottom, which records updates made to your manual. Clinic managers are expected to review and update the manual at least annually, ensuring that all privacy procedures are current and compliant with legal standards.
Review Your Clinic Description
The Clinic Description section provides a snapshot of your organization. It includes details about the management team, clinic staff, external vendors, and key technology systems in use. This section offers an overview of the operational structure of your clinic, highlighting the individuals and systems responsible for maintaining health information privacy.
Make sure to review this section carefully to understand how your clinic’s team and technologies work together to support privacy procedures and ensure compliance with privacy legislation.
Privacy Charter and Privacy Officer Responsibilities
Next, take some time to review the clinic’s Privacy Charter, which outlines the fundamental privacy principles your clinic follows to protect confidentiality, security, and access to health information.
You will also find a section detailing the role of the Privacy Officer—the individual responsible for ensuring compliance with privacy legislation and enforcing clinic-specific privacy procedures.
Compliance Statements and Version Control
Each policy or privacy procedure within the manual includes a compliance statement, reminding custodians, managers, and supervisors of their responsibility to enforce these procedures.
It is expected that the clinic management team will review the Health Information Privacy and Security Policies and Procedures Manual regularly, at least annually, and make edits and updates as necessary. Each time the manual or a specific policy and procedure is updated, there should be a corresponding entry to indicate what content has been changed.
Employees who violate any part of these policies may face disciplinary action in accordance with clinic sanctions.
Next Episode: Privacy Rights
In the next episode, we will focus on Privacy Rights and what they mean for both patients and staff in your healthcare practice.
Stay tuned!
Don’t Have Written Privacy Policies and Procedures Yet?
If your clinic hasn’t yet purchased the Health Information Privacy and Security Policies and Procedures templates from Information Managers Ltd., don’t worry! You can still follow along with this training and refer to your current clinic’s procedures.
If you don’t have written policies in place yet, now is a great time to get started. Check out our customizable templates to help your healthcare practice stay compliant and protect patient information. Learn more at https://informationmanagers.ca/policy-and-procedure-template/.
