Archive for 2018

A systematic process is necessary to prove an incident involving medical records did not result in a breach.

Good Incident Response Plans Are a Must

This post, Good Incident Response Plans Are a Must, first appeared on https://www.renalandurologynews.com/. Tom Walsh, founder and managing partner of tw-Security, a health care privacy and information security firm in Overland Park, Kansas, related an incident that shows how the best intentions can go wrong. A small health care clinic that was acquired by a larger group had not switched to the purchaser’s medical records system. The clinic had a ransomware breach on a Friday afternoon, […]

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Cloud for healthcare presses on but is slowed by HIPAA anxiety,

Cloud for healthcare presses on but is slowed by HIPAA anxiety

This post, Cloud for healthcare presses on but is slowed by HIPAA anxiety, first appeared on https://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/. Facing mounting pressure to take steps toward the healthcare cloud, hospital systems find themselves balancing modern infrastructure trends with HIPAA safeguards. Imagine a mortgage company telling a household it was too slow in moving to the cloud: Cut the cable cord and start streaming! Buy a smart speaker to order pizza! Have backyard security cameras upload footage to […]

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Are your vendors HIPAA compliant? Find out before it’s too late

Are your vendors HIPAA compliant? Find out before it’s too late

This post, Are your vendors HIPAA compliant? Find out before it’s too late, first appeared on https://www.dentistryiq.com/. Organizations operating within dentistry and the healthcare industry more generally face constant regulatory pressure at the federal and state levels. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), for example, sets rules relating to the safeguarding of protected health information (PHI) that significantly impact the way organizations collect, store, and transmit their patients’ medical data. Failure to abide by […]

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LabCorp’s Network Security Breach May Have Exposed PHI of Millions

LabCorp’s Network Security Breach May Have Exposed PHI of Millions

This post, LabCorp’s Network Security Breach May Have Exposed PHI of Millions, first appeared on https://healthitsecurity.com/. After recently dodging a legal bullet over an alleged HIPAA violation, LabCorp is now facing a network security breach that forced the North Carolina-based laboratory diagnostics firm to shut down its IT network, possibly placing PHI of millions of people at risk. By Fred Donovan July 17, 2018 – After recently dodging a legal bullet over an alleged HIPAA violation, […]

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How to Ensure Your Healthcare Cloud Storage Stays HIPAA Compliant

How to Ensure Your Healthcare Cloud Storage Stays HIPAA Compliant

This post, How to Ensure Your Healthcare Cloud Storage Stays HIPAA Compliant, first appeared on https://healthtechmagazine.net/. As healthcare professionals continue to embrace digital technologies to safeguard their patients’ information, there is an industrywide need to ensure digital ecosystems are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This is particularly true as healthcare providers pivot to cloud storage, in addition to on-premises options. This move can help them prepare for precision medicine and population […]

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Hospital Hit with $4.3 Million Fine for “Snail’s Pace” HIPAA Compliance,

Hospital Hit with $4.3 Million Fine for “Snail’s Pace” HIPAA Compliance

This post, Hospital Hit with $4.3 Million Fine for “Snail’s Pace” HIPAA Compliance, first appeared on https://www.jdsupra.com/. Healthcare organizations take note: not following your own data security rules can be costly, very costly. And the more time it takes to comply, the faster the fines stack up. An administrative law judge recently upheld the fourth largest HIPAA fine – a $4.3 million penalty – issued to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for not following […]

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2018 HIPAA Compliance: How to Keep Your ePHI Protected

2018 HIPAA Compliance: How to Keep Your ePHI Protected

This post, 2018 HIPAA Compliance: How to Keep Your ePHI Protected,  first appeared on https://healthtechmagazine.net/. There has been quite a fuss lately over offering patients greater access to their health records, particularly with the introduction of Apple’s EHR app, which promises to bring electronic health records into patients’ pockets and introduce the era of bring-your-own-data in healthcare. But often that desire to bring patients into the fold gets quashed by a fear of cybersecurity and HIPAA […]

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Proactive ways to prevent improper pharmaceutical disposal

Proactive ways to prevent improper pharmaceutical disposal

This post, Proactive ways to prevent improper pharmaceutical disposal, first appeared on https://www.mcknights.com/. As the use of pharmaceuticals in long-term care facilities increases, so does the need for proper management of its waste. With the potential to cause harm for facilities, their residents and the environment, it is imperative that LTC owners and operators understand the current regulatory environment and best practices for pharmaceutical waste. A recent Associated Press investigation found that hospitals and LTC […]

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1.13M Records Exposed by 110 Healthcare Data Breaches in Q1 2018

1.13M Records Exposed by 110 Healthcare Data Breaches in Q1 2018

This post, 1.13M Records Exposed by 110 Healthcare Data Breaches in Q1 2018, first appeared on https://healthitsecurity.com. Around 1.13 million patient records were compromised in 110 healthcare data breaches in the first quarter of 2018, according to data released May 3 in the Protenus Breach Barometer. Healthcare insiders were most likely to snoop on family members—a whopping 77.10 percent of privacy violations in the first quarter. Snooping on fellow co-workers was the second most common insider […]

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Did EMS Worker Commit HIPAA Violation With Facebook Post?

Did EMS Worker Commit HIPAA Violation With Facebook Post?

This post, Did EMS Worker Commit HIPAA Violation With Facebook Post?, first appeared on https://healthitsecurity.com. Did an emergency medical services (EMS) worker in Roane County, Tennessee, commit a HIPAA violation with a Facebook post that described the peculiar location of an emergency response—a chicken coop? The EMS worker was part of a team that responded to a call about Leon Raymond, who had suffered a heart attack in his chicken coop. “The first responders arrived and started […]

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