Brandy Nelson, HIM Compliance Analyst, received her master’s degree in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Public Management from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in Nevada.  This education gave her insight to administrative law and other challenges and opportunities presented within a non-profit environment.

Brandy’s initial exposure to HIPAA began as an employee at UnitedHealthcare Nevada, where she began as a large group representative and eventually worked in group contracts, team leader, and as a database administrator for PCP and pharmacy systems. 

Since August of 2015, Brandy has relocated and accepted the position Compliance Analyst for a mid-sized non-profit hospital system.  She is the primary point of HIPAA education for two hospitals and over 40 clinics, as well as an outpatient rehabilitation facility.  Brandy conducts site visits, where she does rounding for privacy and security, and reports on any potential weakness.  Administratively, Brandy conducts privacy audits on employees and VIP patients to determine if a patient’s PHI has been accessed inappropriately and conducts other various compliance audits.  She reports her findings to hospital leadership, human resources, and others as needed and completes Joint Commission reporting.  As the Compliance Analyst, she works closely with the Privacy Officer to investigate and report potential HIPAA breaches within the hospital system.