Big HIPAA penalties and fines make great news headlines. Recently the managed care company WellPoint Inc. agreed to pay a $1.7 million fine to settle potential HIPAA violations. False sense of security Large fines make headlines and show that violating HIPAA regulations can be very expensive. Unfortunately it can have an opposite effect as well....
Mobile devices including laptops, tablets and smartphones are a growing threat to patient information. We wrote about how many organizations fail to realize how much protected health information (PHI) is on mobile devices. Ponemon Study In a very insightful study called The Risk of Regulated Data on Mobile Devices & in the Cloud, the risks...
HHS released a short video (under 2 minutes) in 2012 that briefly explains the HIPAA Security Rule. With the upcoming HIPAA Omnibus Rule enforcement and the expanded regulation to Business Associates, we thought we would post the video again. Note the push to implement encryption to protect patient records! HHS OCR – HIPAA Security Rule...
The one thing you can say is that there are no 3 strikes and you are out when it comes to HIPAA breaches. Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. recently suffered its 5th HIPAA breach since 2009. The most recent breach involved a stolen unencrypted laptop that contained 13,000 patient records. What makes this even...
One of the requirements of the HIPAA Security Rule is to audit access to Protected Health Information (PHI). Auditing is the recording of access to PHI. It usually includes: who accessed PHI, when was PHI accessed and what PHI was accessed? Many EHRs and all certified EHRs for Meaningful Use have the ability to audit...
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it has fined Idaho State University (ISU) $400,000 for failing to protect patient information. The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation after ISU notified HHS of the breach in which the ePHI of approximately 17,500 patients was unsecured for at least 10 months,...
Risk of owning a car If you take a step back and think of the risks of owning a car I think you would be shocked. Cars have associated risks that could significantly impact you and your family. Some of the risks include: The risk of being hurt or killed in a car accident The...
There is a very good article over at HealthData Management called Want to Impress OCR During a HIPAA Audit? Write a Book The author discusses the benefits of creating a “Book of Evidence” that your organization is in HIPAA compliance if you were to get audited by the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR). Creating...
We know you know about HIPAA security. HIPAA breaches are in the news on a weekly basis. The new HIPAA Omnibus Rule has been finalized and there is a lot of buzz about it. So the question is why haven’t you gotten serious about HIPAA security? We think we know some of the reasons. ...
Two recent articles shed some needed light on the risk of Cybercrime to small businesses including medical practices. Most Small Businesses Don’t Recover From Cybercrime The first article from the Wall Street Journal titled Most Small Businesses Don’t Recover From Cybercrime examines how many small businesses suffer from cyberattacks and the consequences of those attacks....
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