Did your privacy take a hit in 2021?
What happened to your data in 2021
We haven't heard much about HIPAA in the past few years while the healthcare industry and regulators grappled with managing and responding to the COVID crisis. But that distraction has proven to be an ideal…
How To Blow Your HIPAA Compliance In 1 Email
Email Mistakes
It has happened again, and it won't be the last time. The City of Boston just received their egg-in-the-face award for sending an email to all their recently-tested-positive Covid patients instructing them on the City's policies…
HIPAA compliance is a false sense of security
New HIPAA guidance
Yesterday, December 20th, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights issued new guidance under the Privacy Rule on disclosures of PHI for Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO). Inevitably, this is going to get twisted and contorted…
New HIPAA guidance
New HIPAA guidance
Yesterday, December 20th, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights issued new guidance under the Privacy Rule on disclosures of PHI for Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO). Inevitably, this is going to get twisted and contorted…
HIPAA Violations – Twenty-Five Fines and Counting
Twenty-Five Fines and Counting
Since 2019, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the HIPAA enforcement arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, has been enforcing violations of the rights of patients to have timely access to their medical…
The Holiday Con
It's that time of year, are you ready?
Given the cyber-crime epidemic we are experiencing, it stands to reason this holiday season, historically a peak period for cyber crime, will see a considerable spike in scams. Here's a list of the top…
Changing trust by default
Traditional trust-based networking is undergoing a massive paradigm shift, affecting you if it hasn't already. If you think you're losing your freedoms, no place will that be more evident than in your work environment. This stripping of your…
Cybersecurity Training and HIPAA
Which Employees Require HIPAA Training?
The HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR § 164.530) and the HIPAA Security Rule (45 CFR § 164.308) stipulate training should be provided to all members of the workforce not only the ones that have contact with…
Sharing PHI with Third Party Applications
The FTC has been warning third-party healthcare applications to tighten up their security, and that they are watching. This follows reports from Ponemon Institute and Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report highlighting the healthcare…
One simple habit could save your ass(ets)
One of the weaknesses in the human cybersecurity chain is well, we're human. We make mistakes at various moments, whether we're being rushed, or curious, We also get lazy, lackadaisical, or otherwise complacent, and when we do, we become…
How Healthcare Cybersecurity Affects HIPAA Compliance
If you work in medicine, you know that HIPAA is one of the most important pieces of legislation to follow. Failing to maintain HIPAA security compliance can result in devastating consequences. It can cost practices thousands of dollars…
HIPAA Help: What Are the 3 Standards of the HIPAA Security Rule?
Between August 2020 and July 2021, there were 706 healthcare data breaches. This involved exposure to over 500 records and healthcare data for 44,368,781 people. That represents an average of 58.8 breaches of about 3.70 million records a month.
All…
How To Prepare for HIPAA Risk Assessments
Increasingly, healthcare providers are learning to utilize the extensive benefits of online tools like patient portals. These tools enable more efficient communication between providers and patients. Moreover, they allow patients increased access…
7 Essential Components of Quality HIPAA Compliance Services
It's been over twenty years since the Health Insurance Provider and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was put into motion.
Many factors have evolved since then. There have been numerous advancements in technology that introduce new circumstances…
The Importance of HIPAA Compliance Training for Psychologists
Every day, psychologists become more and more important in the world. There was already a brewing mental health crisis before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, people everywhere are struggling with anxiety, depression, PTSD, personality disorders,…
How To Interpret Your HIPAA Risk Analysis Results
Is your business meeting the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules? Have you completed a HIPAA risk assessment and HIPAA risk analysis? Organizations that fail to comply put patients’ protected health information…