Has your healthcare organization completed a SOC audit recently? A SOC certification in the healthcare world allows your patients to know that you have effective and efficient billing, internal controls, and data protection.
So what is a SOC Audit?
A SOC Audit is a report that confirms that your organization has proper internal controls and security measures in place.
There are two major kinds of SOC Audits:
A SOC 1 Audit focuses only on controls and security of financial reporting.
A SOC 2 Audit focuses on controls and security related to operations and compliance issues.
Are Healthcare Companies Required To Have a SOC Audit?
Any service organization or business that needs to be confident in how it transmits, processes, or stores customer or client data might need a SOC Audit. Companies that need a SOC Audit the most are organizations that report financial information or handle sensitive information on behalf of their clients, customers, or patients. The latter is very important in the healthcare industry.
How Health Companies Benefit From Being SOC Certified
The SOC report that is given after a completed SOC Audit helps healthcare companies:
- Gives assurance to patients and customers that you have efficient billing processes.
- Confirms that your internal processes and controls are effective.
- Discover and fix any gaps that exist in your security or processes.
- Proves to customers, clients, and patients that your organization properly handles sensitive information.
How An Audit Can Help Your Business
For example, hypothetically if you thought that all your procedures and processes were in place to track money owed to your business consistently. Then a SOC audit finds out that any money owed for more than 180 days past due disappears and is forgotten about. The SOC Audit found that you were not going after all of the money your business is owed and you would not have noticed this hole if you had not been audited and would have continued losing money.
How to get started with a SOC audit
- Determine your objectives, what do you want to find out from your audit?
- What is the scope of your audit? Do you need SOC 1, 2, or both?
- Tackle regulatory compliance requirements. If you are a healthcare company, are you HIPPAA and HITECH compliant?
- Write down the details of your procedures and policies. This will help guide the auditor.
- Make sure you are ready for your SOC Audit with a “readiness assessment”.
- Contact a trusted CPA firm. Your CPA will be a great resource for the SOC process.
Becoming SOC certified will help your business reach its maximum potential and make you stand out from the competition. Contact us today to get started on your next SOC Audit!
