NueMD today announced the results of its 2016 industry survey measuring progress towards compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act among small medical practices. Conducted in February 2016, the survey of over 900 healthcare professionals revealed an increase in general awareness, but active steps toward compliance are still lagging. 

"With audits finally seeing the light of day, we wanted to gauge how quickly the industry is adapting to new regulations and offer resources to anyone who may be falling behind," said Caleb Clarke, sales and marketing director at NueMD. "Our hope is that surveys like these will draw attention to areas needing the most improvement."

Key findings include:

• 60% of respondents are still unaware of pending HIPAA audits

• 70% of respondents have created a compliance plan, compared to 61% in 2014

• 30% of respondents have yet to create a plan

• 54% of respondents have not appointed Security or Privacy Officers

In response to the results, NueMD is partnering with Total HIPAA Compliance and Atlanta-based healthcare attorney Daniel Brown, Esq. to host a series of free webinars designed to educate small medical practices and billing companies on various areas of compliance. 

"Becoming compliant not only helps protect patients, but the financial well-being of a practice," said Jason Karn, chief compliance officer at Total HIPAA Compliance. "It's really important that the industry remains educated and we're excited to be a part of that."

The first webinar of the five-part series will take place on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 2 pm EST and all healthcare professionals are encouraged to attend. For more information and to register for the webinar, please visit http://love.nuemd.com/hipaa-webinar-registration/.