One of the most important aspects of complying with the HIPAA Security Rule is to perform a risk assessment to evaluate how an organization is protecting patient data. The results of the risk assessment provide a playbook for how additional protections can lower the risk to patient information. Let’s take a closer look at the...
Susan McAndrew, deputy director of The HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) gives a very insightful interview to Howard Anderson, Executive Editor, HealthcareInfoSecurity.com. There are a lot of good points and I suggest reading the whole interview. I will point out a few of the highlights. When asked about who will be audited, McAndrew was...
In a previous post I discussed the risk of having patient information on smartphones. I ended the post with stating that a HIPAA Risk Assessment can help reveal where security measures are needed. Let’s look at that a little more in depth. Many people are confused as to what a HIPAA Risk Assessment is. Here...
The problem with HIPAA compliance and security in general is that there are so many products and services on the market, how does one decide which are the right ones? Let’s not discuss a HIPAA security service (although we hope you choose HIPAA Secure Now!) but let’s look at after you have taken the first...
I had a conversation with a group of physicians a couple weeks ago that shed some interesting light on where patient information resides and how to protect it. Each of the 5 physicians had a smartphone of various manufacturers. Two had iPhones, two had Android phones and one had a Blackberry phone. I asked the...
There is a great post over at Infosec Island regarding a letter that was received from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) after a data breach that occurred at a small medical practice. The breach was the result of a burglary. No details were given on what was stolen or what kind of patient information...
One of the questions that I get asked a lot is; What does it take to be compliant with the HIPAA Security Rule? And when I start to answer the question, inevitably the person’s eyes glaze over. So to prevent your eyes from glazing over I will give the simple answer: A lot. OK, that...
The following blog was written a year ago but the content is still relevant today. What if organizations looked at HIPAA security as a competitive advantage and not just something that is mandatory and required by the government? In two recent surveys a clear message is being sent. The message is that patients want doctors...
A Risk Assessment is required in order to comply with the HIPAA Security Rule. The Security Management Process standard in the Security Rule requires organizations to “[i]mplement policies and procedures to prevent, detect, contain, and correct security violations.” (45 C.F.R. § 164.308(a)(1).) Risk analysis is one of four required implementation specifications that provide instructions to...
We are proud to announce the launch of the HIPAA Secure Now! service. HIPAA Secure Now! is the first comprehensive and affordable HIPAA Security Rule service. The service includes: 18 Policy and Procedures covering the administrative, physical and technical safeguards as required by the HIPAA Security Rule. A thorough Risk Assessment that looks at all...
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