Healthcare Breaches on the Rise Don’t shy away from this headline, healthcare businesses cannot put their head in the sand or look the other way when it comes to establishing a strong cybersecurity program. For many, the focus has been on HIPAA compliance. This consumes resources both in the workforce and funding. It has also...
Exceptions in a HIPAA Breach In 2007 the Guide to Medical Privacy Law was published. It indicated that on multiple occasions hospitals, EMT services, schools, and other public agencies were incorrectly withholding news out of a fear of violating HIPAA policy. Often, there isn’t a clear understanding as to what constitutes exceptions to HIPAA and...
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or as it is commonly known as HIPAA, was created to set standards nationally. These are in place to protect the personal health information and medical records of individuals as well as give them access easily. As the March 1st deadline for reporting a breach draws closer, knowing...
Timing is Everything A data breach within your business. You think it won’t happen, you hope it doesn’t happen, but what if it does happen? What are your next steps? Like most things in healthcare, timing is essential. You need to think quickly and act swiftly during a time when your head might not be...
2019 HIPAA Breach Reporting Deadline If in 2019 you had a HIPAA breach that affected fewer than 500 individuals, you must report that to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by Saturday, February 29, 2020. Not sure if you’ve had an incident that requires reporting? Start by knowing that every breach must...
Remain Calm, Remain Honest – and Remain in Business Avoiding the inevitable does not make it go away. Healthcare patients choose a provider based on the quality of care. In addition to that, the public will generally assume that their private information is safeguarded and not something that they need to verify or investigate before...
Cybercriminals continue to flex their muscles on the healthcare industry with ransomware hitting an Ohio medical practice earlier this month. NEO Urology in Boardman, Ohio, suffered a complex ransomware attack, with hackers encrypting the organization’s entire computer system. According to a report from local news agency WFMJ, the attack on NEO Urology occurred on June...
Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc. (MIE), a software and electronic medical records service provider has paid the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services $100,000 to settle a HIPAA breach from 2015. The Indiana-based company reported the data breach to OCR on July 23, 2015, following the discovery that...
The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced a settlement with Touchstone Medical Imaging (“Touchstone”) for their potential violations of HIPAA Security and Breach Notification Rules. Touchstone has agreed to pay $3,000,000 and adopt a corrective action plan. Touchstone is a diagnostic medical imaging services company based in...
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...
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