The University of Washington Medicine is notifying approximately 974,000 patients of a data breach that occurred in December, which left some of the patients’ information exposed on the Internet. The breach occurred over a 3-week period and was determined to be the result of a misconfigured server. The database was used to track the sharing...
Healthcare breaches are incredibly difficult for organizations to deal with. Repercussions of a data breach vary greatly depending on what caused the breach to begin with. For example, there’s the struggle of getting your organization back up and running, determining the cause of the breach, notifying patients, taking corrective action, reporting the breach, potentially finding...
As the digital ecosystem continues to thrive and advance, so too must the regulations and practices for safely caring for sensitive data. That is especially true for the healthcare industry, which continues to be a prime target for cybercriminals. Healthcare practices need to appropriately safeguard electronic protected health information in compliance with the Health Insurance...
Ransomware Attack on CT Optometry Office Raises Tax Fraud Concerns Cybercriminals target businesses of all industries and sizes, however, it seems as though their sights are set more on small and medium-sized businesses than large corporations. While there are many factors that may influence the shift of attention to small businesses, one explanation stands out,...
Valley Hope Association (VHA), a Kansas-based addiction treatment organization with 16 facilities in seven Midwest states has started notifying patients that their information may have been compromised in a data breach. After officials found suspicious activity on an employee’s email account in October, an investigation was launched. VHA hired a forensics team to uncover details...
As the value of healthcare data remains high, there is no denying that healthcare organizations make prime targets for cybercriminals. To wreak havoc and make a profit from compromised patient data, cybercriminals exploit weak spots in healthcare organizations, whether that be a loophole in the security of the server, poorly trained employees, or a variety...
Educating employees on security awareness and the dangers posed by cybercriminals is critical to any organization. While you can train employees on what to look for and how to best protect your practice, cybercriminals will continue to find unique and more sophisticated ways to trick individuals and gain access to the sensitive data they’re trying...
On October 5, California-based Gold Coast Health Plan (GCHP) informed the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that a phishing attack may have exposed the protected health information of 37,005 plan members. The attack occurred when hackers successfully tricked a GCHP employee with a phishing email, which allowed the hackers access to that employee’s email account...
On September 20, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights announced a fine of $999,000 for three Boston hospitals, all of which violated HIPAA while allowing ABC’s TV series “Boston Med” to film the show in their facilities. Boston Medical Center (BMC), Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and Massachusetts General Hospital...
As we move into the second half of the year, many practices and physicians are starting to consider the data they will need to submit under the MACRA/MIPS program. The MACRA/MIPS rules change slightly every year, and this year is no exception. Even though the rules have been adjusted, a basic requirement remains in place: ...
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