Help Me With HIPAA

BAs are in the HIPAA spotlight now more than ever. TheDarkOverlord was clearly using some BA applications to infiltrate networks and exfiltrate PHI. OIG reviewed Alaska VA system after breaches and the report specifically points to the need to monitor BAs OCR audits of BAs are about to start. Previously said end of September but now saying October In this episode we discuss what all this means. Mo...

Did you hear that maximum penalties for HIPAA violations are being adjusted for inflation? It has quietly happened. Here is how. Check out the Federal Register entry from September 6, 2016. If you aren't in to reading yourself, don't worry, you know Donna did it. Well, at least the HIPAA parts. Learn more at: HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/72

OCR recently released another memo concerning compliance enforcement efforts.  They say effective August 2016, they have started an initiative to more widely investigate breaches involving under 500 patients.  That means that OCR small breach investigations will begin happening immediately.  In the past, the policy had been to investigate all breaches over 500 patients but not under.   More inform...

OCR published a memo on Aug 1, 2016.  The title is "Do you know who your employees are?".  It is a great reminder about insider threats that we should all worry about regularly. Quoted directly from the memo. ============================ Although all insider threats are not malicious or intentional, the effect of these threats can be damaging to a Covered Entity and Business Associate and have a n...

So far in 2016 there have been 10 resolution agreements announced. One more and this year will equal the number of agreements in all of 2015 & 2014! The latest two also include the largest one announced yet - $5.5m with Advocate Health . Before that though was The University of Mississippi Medical Center - Ole Miss to those of us in the SEC world. It wasn't something to "shake a stick at" with a $...

The OCR audits have begun.  On Wednesday, July 13, audit selected CEs where invited to a webinar. OCR staff walked through the processes they can expect for the audit and expectations for their participation.  The OCR published information from the webinar so we had to check it out and share what we learned with you guys.   For more details visit HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/68

Say it ain't so! Pokemon and a HIPAA breach really? REALLY! Creatures are showing up in offices and hospitals just like everywhere else. The concept of keeping people active and engaged with their surroundings while playing a video game seems like a great idea from a healthcare standpoint. And then you actually do a risk assessment of it - this is where the wheels fall off that good idea train. Ge...

We first talked about this in Ep 62. Darknet sale of healthcare records. Now, more information is coming out and it gets more unfortunate for patients every time we read more. Deep Dot Web broke the news: https://www.deepdotweb.com/2016/06/26/655000-healthcare-records-patients-being-sold/ We picked it up on Data Breaches.net because they were trying to figure out who the entities actually were in...

What happened? March 23, 2013 Oregon Health & Science University notified HHS of a breach due to a stolen unencrypted laptop. May 1, 2013 OCR notifies them they are investigating the incident July 28, 2013 Oregon Health & Science University notified HHS of another breach resulting from storing ePHI at an internet-based service provider without a business associate agreement November 8, 2013 OCR no...

OCR recently sent out a message on their listserv asking if your CE or BA was ready for an incident. We have been discussing security incidents a lot lately so it is nice that OCR has brought it up. Because we have seen various Incident response reports recently, so we were working on an episode anyway.  So this episode is a review of Security Incident Response Plan development. Let's first be cle...

There has been a lot of news and industry discussions about Medical Device security.  Medical Devices are just like a computer, so they also need security to protect the information on them.   For more go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/63

A business associate is getting this OCR  resolution , $650,000 and a two-year settlement.  CHCS in Philadelphia is a BA to 6 skilled nursing clinics in the Philadelphia area. Entities like this do the business part of healthcare and the other clinics don't have to worry about it. An unencrypted iPhone that wasn't password protected had PHI on it.     Patterson Dental Supply Inc. helps manage dent...

Since 2010, ID Experts has sponsored this Ponemon Institute study which has been tracking data breach trends of patient data at healthcare organizations. The annual economic impact of a data breach has risen over the past six years, as has the frequency of data breaches. Criminal attacks and internal threats are the leading cause of healthcare breaches. Evolving cyber attack threats such as ransom...

As always, during times of crisis and chaos things do become confused and incorrect statements are made. It is a normal occurrence in troubling situations. But, we need to address it specifically to clear up a few points. There was no "special waiver from the White House". There was no need for one at all. People, even in a crisis, should not be invoking HIPAA over caring for the patient properly....

Today's podcast is a little different from our normal ones. We are covering a wide variety of subjects involving HIPAA, OCR, HHS, and PHI rather than one specific topic.   For more go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/59

Preventing ransomware is a major concern for every business today.  If not, it should be.  This episode covers understanding ransomware and methods for preventing it. Is ransomware a phi breach? April record number of cases and not slowing down 8 hospitals (more by the time we record) already hit. Training and vigilance is best defense Ransomware attacks continue to evolve to be "smarter"   For mo...

HIPAA policy and procedure templates seem to be a panacea to many people who are just trying to meet the standards and move on. However, these are not the droids you seek! Templates can be the basis for what you need to do but they shouldn't be the solution to the written policy and procedure requirements under HIPAA.   See HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/57

Two reasons for today's topic: A question we received from a listener about understanding antivirus software and a news report about a malware scan that interrupted a medical procedure. Between those two cases it felt like it was time to discuss malware protection under HIPAA. Suzie from Savannah: I would like to have a podcast or a quick answer to the different between anti-virus software release...

We always look at the security rule aspects of HIPAA because they deal with the easier parts for people to deal with when it comes to lowering their risk, but today we are diving into some privacy rule guidelines, because there is new HIPAA privacy guidance that has just been published. Get more info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/55

Recently, we ended up in several discussions about HIPAA access logs and what they really require with our clients. As per usual, any topic that comes up multiple times in my "real job" becomes a discussion for HMWH.  So, today we are talking about HIPAA access logs to attempt to clear up some confusion we have encountered.  There are multiple types of HIPAA access logs being created in most envir...

We talked about OCR audits recently because they are in the news. The audit protocol is a perfect guide for developing and maintaining your HIPAA compliance programs. In fact, the audits have been a hot topic in the industry this month. However, the fact that only 200 audits will take place really means the audit protocol is more important as a guide for what your program should look like in the e...

We really appreciate the support and feedback we have received for our little HIPAA podcast project known as Help Me With HIPAA.  This episode marks one complete year of weekly HIPAA podcasts (counting the special bloopers holiday episode).  We certainly learned a great deal since we started this little DIY project last year.  Granted, David was a convert to the idea much quicker than Donna.   Her...

We often talk about doing the "work" of compliance. Some people seem to have the attitude that all I need to do some is annual staff training and hand out a Notice of Privacy Practices to do small office HIPAA compliance. When we try to explain there is more to it than that we often get pushback about the requirements. We always hear comments like: we don't have time, we don't have resources, we c...

Every website needs security. What questions should you be asking about your business websites and who should you be asking?  Website security can be an open hole in your security plans.  It can also be the source of lots of problems for your business if you don't pay attention to the site content or securing your message. More info on the website at helpmewithhipaa.com/50

The recent release of the new OCR audit protocol gives us new guidance on what they expect from HIPAA compliance programs.  There is a great deal of information to sift through if you are so inclined.  To make it easier for you we are discussing some of the details and things we have learned from reviewing it for you! So, here is our review of the new OCR audit protocol! For more details go to our...