Help Me With HIPAA

We live in a world of instant communications.  During a crisis, our normal standards of communications can be very limited.  How many different issues have you addressed for communications in a crisis in your plans?  We mention the business continuity and disaster recovery plans that everyone should have often in episodes. This is just one element of the plan that can make or break the business in...

It may not occur to many of you that a hacktivist should be on your security risk analysis (SRA).  They must be on there in this digital age. You never know what could trigger a hacktivist to focus on your business and put you under attack.  Why you may ask - well we will discuss that now. For more text go to KardonHQ.com/168

The FBI released an alert on July 12 titled Business E-mail Compromise E-mail Account Compromise  The 12 Billion Dollar Scam that should be on your radar.  BEC-EAC stands for Business Email Compromise - Email Account Compromise.  If you haven't learned about this particular threat it is important that you review it and assess the risk it brings to your company.  That's why we review these increasi...

We often get questions from both the tech staff and security officers about what should be documented regularly and why it should be done.  There are 3 reports you need to get from your tech team on a regular basis IMHO. Today, we will discuss those three reports, why you need them and what to do with them. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/166

One of the discussions you must always be prepared to have is that size does not matter when it comes to privacy and security issues.  Does size matter? Not as much as most people think and not in the ways that most people think either. More at https://HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/165

Want to know how to save money in a data breach?  You have to have a plan before you have the data breach to keep you from making costly mistakes.  Everyone knows a data breach can be expensive but there are studies that show us what makes them more expensive and what helps you save money.  The annual Ponemon cost of a data breach study has been published. IBM sponsors the study each year and it i...

Our most downloaded episode Is from way back in May of 2016.   HIPAA Access Logs Audits was our 54th episode. It is hard to believe it was that long ago!  Today we are doing a deeper dive into how many layers exist when it comes to access logs to see if you have thought of all of them. Which of the logs really matter and what do you do with them? For more go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/163

We all live in a world that revolves around communication tools today. Messaging failures are often the reason privacy breaches occur. In fact, we have 3 to share with you today. Messaging failures can occur in ways you never dreamed of until it happens to someone you know - not you, of course.  Today's episode covers 4 different stories about messaging failures. For more go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com...

OCR continues setting examples with the recent announcement of the $4,348,000 civil money penalty (CMP) that they imposed on MD Anderson.  A review of the details shows us once again that the enforcement of HIPAA obligations is not something they decide to do in a willy-nilly way.  It is specific and designed to set examples of what is expected. Most headlines are about that $4.3 million in penalt...

Medical device inventory is a challenge for most organizations.  Just as with computers and mobile devices, though, you can't understand your risks and security requirements if you don't know what you have out there.  A medical device treasure hunt is what it turns out to be when you make a dedicated effort to find them all in your organization. How do you find them all and how do you worry about...

It happens out of the blue.  You get a letter that tells you that there has been a complaint filed and an investigation has been opened by OCR.  That may not be the best day of your life. Just the thought of opening one of those letters can make some people feel queasy.  If you have ever experienced that moment you don't have it high on your lists of things to do again. Let's review the kinds of t...

In the past few weeks, the nerd news has been full of network security alerts and discussions about issues potentially lurking on every network, especially smaller ones.  These are not the things we normally worry about either. You usually think Windows, Office, Adobe, etc patches are the main alerts to worry about on your network. These are new alerts that could be in every network you use includ...

Secureworld Atlanta just finished up.  Turns out cyber experts do agree about many of the same issues we discuss here.  Two days of discussions amongst CISOs, ISOs, security techies, etc. about what to worry about and what to do for cyber protections.  Yes, there was a lot of really nerdy discussions but the good news is the central themes do not require geek speak to share with you. Learn more at...

Have you considered that there are other valuable information assets to protect than just PHI?  Most healthcare privacy and security programs only focus on PHI and HIPAA requirements. If you are already doing the work why not include all of your valuable information assets.  It is time to ask yourself what data should we protect?   For more go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/156

This time of year many of us think about cleaning out closets and switching seasons.  By clearing out your digital clutter you can double check the security of your devices and reduce your attack surface at the same time.  Plus, it is way easier than cleaning out the old hall closet that may have monsters lurking in the back of it.  Make the time to clean your digital clutter at least once or twic...

There is a frequent issue with people understanding what a Security Risk Analysis includes. In fact, there is so much confusion we often see documents presented as a risk analysis that is actually a gap analysis. It happens so often that OCR is trying to address it in their April newsletter . We are going to take a stab at explaining what gap analysis reports look like vs what a security risk anal...

Back in January, I read an article in Forbes titled: The Five Laws Of Cybersecurity .  When reading it I realized that it was a great message to our listeners but it needed a HIPAA flavor added it to it.  This episode we add our thoughts to his article and turn it into 5 Laws of HIPAA Cybersecurity. For more details HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/153

More news on the insider front makes it necessary to point out, again, how susceptible healthcare is to insider failures. HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/152

The American Medical Association (AMA) did a survey of physicians and their thoughts about privacy and security practices. It was interesting to hear their responses. Also, when a group of Security Officers gets together for a chat some people glaze over.  For nerds like us, it is an exciting discussion. Today we are going to discuss the Security Officer panel topics and the AMA report presentatio...

Are you ready for extreme vendor vetting? Many vendors have been pushing back against any covered entity or business associate that asked them to answer questions about their privacy and security programs. They believe signing a business associate agreement (BAA) meets the legal requirements and that is all they must do. Well, the times they are a changing - again.  There are many different factor...

The National HIPAA Summit always features some interesting news from OCR concerning guidance, enforcement, and audits.  This year was no different. In this episode, we discuss the highlights as we interpreted them anyway. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/149

Cybersecurity trends sound scary when you hear us talk about some of this stuff.  Cyberscary is actually what we decided to call it.  The good news is we do talk about other things sometimes. There are two reports that came out in recent weeks have gotten my attention and just have to be discussed with you guys. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/148

Cybersecurity legal requirements keep changing at the state, federal, and international level.  Most of the changes are just trying to keep up with the constantly changing landscape of threats in cyberspace. Today we call in an expert, Mitzi Hill, to talk to us about those cybersecurity legal requirements.  How those changes may impact your business and your privacy and security program is certain...

We get questions from listeners on a pretty regular basis.  When they come in from an email we do our best to reply with an answer.  Sometimes they get backed up for us to get them on the show, however. Today we are covering some of those, in fact, we are covering 6 listener questions. HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/146

News abounds about Uber and other ride-sharing services taking people to their doctor appointments.  They say they have it covered and Uber Health HIPAA compliance is solid. Today we look at what they are saying about HIPAA here and what that means to us. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/145