Every healthcare organization knows about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It’s part of daily life for those working in a healthcare setting, and it can be — from a cybersecurity perspective — a difficult set of regulations to navigate. HIPAA violations can result in a minimum fine of $50,000, not to mention the reputation cost as well as time and money spent if that HIPAA violation results in a data breach. With […]

As the healthcare industry enters the pandemic’s third year, many leaders are working to reinvigorate staff and patient safety efforts. Below are five of the most pressing safety issues for hospitals and health systems to address in 2022, based on expert insights, research findings and trends reported in the past year. 1. Foundational safety work. First and foremost, healthcare organizations must ensure they have a strong foundation to refine safety efforts and sustain improvements, according […]

Newly totaled data from 2021 shows Washington healthcare workers filed a record number of workplace safety complaint forms, an increase touted by healthcare worker unions as reason for safe-staffing standards legislation. Members of UFCW 21, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW and the Washington State Nurses Association filed 8,649 safety complaint forms in 2021 – the total number of forms submitted between workers of all three unions in 2019 was 2,865. These forms detail staffing complaints and violations, […]

Entira Family Clinics, a family medicine practice based in Minnesota, sent data breach notification letters to impacted individuals via the Maine Attorney General’s Office on January 13, 2022. The Maine Attorney General’s Office said that the breach impacted nearly 200,000 individuals associated with the family medicine practice. In the letter, Entira wrote that it had “recently discovered” a data breach that occurred within Netgain Technology, a cloud hosting provider. However, Netgain discovered the breach in […]

Healthcare providers and administrators want more training and resources on waste management, a new survey has found. The survey was conducted by Stericycle, a provider of medical waste management, reaching 500 healthcare workers, 350 of whom are clinicians and 150 of whom are administrators. The findings were put into Stericycle’s first report on healthcare workplace safety. More than half of providers and administrators feel their organization should spend more labor and funds on biohazardous waste […]

COVID-19 created great upheaval throughout the economy and the legal compliance world as well. The pandemic has been a great disruptor and has brought rules, regulations and related agency guidance that have served to overwhelm even the most conscientious and attentive employer. The welcomed arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, and now the perhaps less welcome OSHA vaccine mandate, simply add to an employer’s compliance burden. While OSHA is busy attempting to implement its vaccine/testing mandate, it […]

The Fifth Circuit Court shot down the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard back in November, and many people thought it was never to return. But, the Sixth Circuit court brought it back last Friday, and OSHA declared it would begin enforcement on January 10, 2022. Any business that fails to comply with Biden vaccine mandate, which affects companies with at least 100 employees, may face fines. For a serious violation, a fine […]

New York-based Huntington Hospital began notifying 13,000 patients of a data breach that exposed protected health information (PHI) and resulted in a former employee being charged with a HIPAA violation. Huntington Hospital discovered on February 25, 2019, that a night shift employee was improperly accessing electronic medical records without role-based authorization. Further investigation revealed that the employee accessed PHI continually from October 2018 to February 2019. The hospital immediately suspended the employee, and he was […]

California will join 12 district attorneys in suing Walmart, alleging the retail giant has repeatedly violated state laws against hazardous waste disposal over the past six years. In a press conference Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) accused the company of disposing of materials such as lithium and alkaline batteries, LED lightbulbs and pesticides in disposal sites that are not equipped for them. “We’re not talking about a few batteries. … Walmart’s own audits […]