Workforce Security I

Workforce Security is the next subsection under the Administrative Section. It consists of 3 tasks all of which are addressable. An addressable task means that your agency must evaluate the requirement being defined and then decide what is the best solution for the requirement for your agency. There is not a predefined solution to the requirement in question. Addressable tasks are meant to allow for flexibility in your solution. For instance, a large hospital may have a larger need or more funds to address a particular requirement than a small agency or doctors office.

The Workforce Security section requires that your agency implements policies and procedures to ensure workforce members have appropriate access to EPHI and to prevent access to those that do not. Remember that the administrative Section has to do with creating, documenting, implementing and monitoring policies and procedures and not the actual technical part of the process. That will come later.

The first task in the Workforce Security section is to implement procedures for the authorization and/or supervision of workforce members who work with EPHI. What workforce members need access to EPHI? To what type of EPHI do they need access? What is the process for granting and removing access? If you have more than one location, do workforce members from one location have rights to EPHI at the other locations? Who is in charge of granting and denying access? These types of questions must be addressed in the policies and procedures you create for this task. Remember that this task is addressable and therefore can be tailored to meet your specific needs.