The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandates strict standards to protect the privacy and security of patients’ health information. A critical aspect of maintaining HIPAA compliance is conducting a thorough data breach analysis. This process involves identifying, documenting, and mitigating breaches of protected health information (PHI). Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to conduct an effective HIPAA data breach analysis.
HIPAA laws exist to protect patient privacy and maintain the integrity of healthcare services, with violations leading to severe consequences that can cripple a healthcare business for years. Intentional violations can cost companies millions of dollars and result in criminal charges, while even unintentional neglect can lead to substantial fines, employee terminations, and sanctions. Undiscovered violations may eventually surface, and retroactive consequences mean that organizations failing to take compliance seriously may face years’ worth of penalties for HIPAA infractions. This blog post will dive deeper into the HIPAA violations and their consequences.
For healthcare providers, securing and protecting electronic personal health information (ePHI) is a formidable challenge—one that’s been amplified by the industry-wide integration of telemedicine services. As ePHI is now digitally disseminated in real-time via telecommunication platforms, new variables have been added to the security and compliance equation.
Enacted in 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) establishes crucial data privacy and security rules for protecting medical information. Despite its age, HIPAA remains pivotal in today’s regulatory landscape. Closely associated with HIPAA is the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST). However, there is confusion between the two with some mistakenly believing that HITRUST is synonymous with HIPAA. Continue reading to learn more about HITRUST vs. HIPAA and how they differentiate.
If your organization is involved in the healthcare industry indirectly, such as through strategic partnerships with healthcare providers, you may be required to sign a business associate agreement. That means achieving partial or full HIPAA compliance through implementation and assessments.
If your organization needs to comply with HIPAA, you’ll need to safeguard protected health information (PHI) and keep an eye out for:
The development and advancement of cloud computing services have improved and expanded technology options across several industries. The healthcare industry is no exception. Due to legal regulations, organizations in and adjacent to healthcare have unique cloud infrastructure security considerations to prioritize to safeguard specific classes of protected information.
Complying with HIPAA regulations is as easy as following four simple steps:
From the largest hospitals in America to dentists and plastic surgeons, virtually everyone in the medical profession or anyone that deals with public health is affected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA is the law of the land as it relates to standards for patient private data and medical record privacy, and non-compliance and HIPAA violations can come with stiff penalties.
Most people would agree that basic human rights include privacy. However, social media, computers, and the Internet have eroded the traditional privacy and security barriers put in place. Documents can be shared with a simple click and access granted with credentials. Society can no longer dictate, in many cases, who or what has access to Personal Identifiable Information (PII).This especially affects healthcare provider entities, which up until the late 1990s and early 2000s kept most records in paper format.