HIPAA Journal published an article online this week addressing client HIPAA violation complaints and whether or not health care providers are equipped to properly address these complaints. According to the article, in order for an efficient response to be conducted, policies should be developed covering the complaints procedure and staff must be trained to handle … [Read more…]
Let’s just say if your laptop has access to confidential patient information, it might make sense to have your i’s dotted and your t’s crossed when it comes to laptop security. MSPmentor reported this week that a Pennsylvania provider was fined $2.5 million dollars when a laptop containing patient information was stolen and hacked into, … [Read more…]
MSP Mentor recently posted an article stating a network of public health clinics in the Denver, Colorado have been fined $400,000 for HIPAA data breaches. The breaches occurred through phishing (aka email hacking), gaining electronic health records of over 3,000 patients. “Investigators from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) found … [Read more…]
CSO Online published an article discussing the “10 Security Risks of Wearables”. The article presents an informative breakdown of the security risks wearables potentially bring into the work environment. “IT should treat wearables like any other computing device on their network, Manzuik says. ‘When possible, consider segregating IoT devices to their own network and don’t … [Read more…]
E Commerce Times recently posted an article titled, “Why are Health Records so Valuable to Cybercriminals?” The article describes why cybercriminals like to target electronic health records (EHR) and explains how HIPAA does, and at times does not, protect EHRs. To check out the full article visit: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/84417.html For daily HIPPA News visit our HIPAA News sidebar … [Read more…]
According to Patient Engagement HIT, American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) recently posted data guiding patients through the appropriate process of obtaining their medical records from their providers and navigating through HIPPA privacy regulations. “Per HIPAA, patients may ask to view and obtain a copy of their health records, receive records in paper or electronic copies, … [Read more…]
HIPAA Journal’s healthcare data breach report summary article for January 2017 shows that once again healthcare data breaches are up year-over-year. January 2016 saw the lowest number of data breaches of any month in 2016 (21) and also the lowest number of records exposed of any month in the year (104,056 records). 2017 did not … [Read more…]
Regardless of whether protected health information (PHI) is stored electronically or in hard copy form, by law it must be secured. Since 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has published more than 1700 reports of data breaches that impacted at least 500 individuals. According to the published … [Read more…]
Excellent and detailed write-up of the new HIPAA rules that take effect on September 23, 2013: On January 17, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued the highly anticipated omnibus final rule (the “Final Rule”) to modify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) pursuant to the Health … [Read more…]
With 2013 right around the corner, you should be aware of the following 10 items for your checklist to make sure you’re ready for the Affordable Health Care Act. Effective in 2013: The following list itemizes the changes that generally will become effective in 2013. The effective date depends upon a number of factors, including whether … [Read more…]