A Missouri hospital will be equipping its staff with panic buttons to protect them from violent patients following a startling rise in assaults, administrators said. Cox Medical Center Branson, located about 44 miles from Springfield, said it was implementing the added protection after violent assaults by patients tripled in the last year. According to hospital data, total assaults rose from 40 to 123 and total injuries climbed from 17 to 78. Assaults leading to injury […]

Hundreds of hospitals have mandated that their employees provide proof of vaccination. Other hospitals have begun to request hospital visitors show evidence they’ve been inoculated. Here’s why these do not violate HIPAA rules, according to an Aug. 4 Insider report. Seven things to know: 1. Some Americans have expressed concerns that being asked to provide proof of vaccination status violates HIPAA. However, what HIPAA protects is very narrow. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed HIPAA […]

As long as providers remain HIPAA-compliant, they will be able to text patients with ease and see all the benefits that it brings — including stronger patient loyalty, more revenue, and more referrals. Many people, and that includes patients, prefer to text because it’s quick, easy, and convenient. Texting is incredibly effective for medical practices for things like scheduling, ongoing care, and more. You should be texting, but you have to make sure you’re staying […]

Newly obtained internal emails revealed that OCR may not have known that its investigation into a Walgreens HIPAA violation was still open 10 years later. Following a 2006 HIPAA violation investigation by Indianapolis news station WTHR, CVS and Rite Aid reached settlements with HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and paid a combined $3.25 million in fines. CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens were all found exposing protected health information (PHI) by improperly disposing of records […]

An Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) went into effect in early June 2021, and compliance with most of the provisions was required by July 6. The final set of provisions (pertaining to training, ventilation, and barriers) wasn’t mandated until July 21. With some exceptions, the ETS applies to all settings where any employee provides healthcare or healthcare support services. Who’s covered Healthcare services. Services provided to individuals by professional healthcare […]

Keep in mind that it’s not just doctors and nurses that need to comply with the law. Anyone selling products or services to anyone in the healthcare industry must be aware of the HIPAA rules and requirements. HIPAA is made up of different sections, called Titles, with Title I and Title II being the most important. Title I focuses on the portability part of the law, ensuring that insurance plans aren’t denied when workers switch […]

With the regular and much needed update to critical standards such as HIPAA, auditors and compliance experts need to be continuously on their toes to review and acquaint themselves with these new developments. One of the latest such updates is the Health Information Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Enforcement rule, which has caused quite a stir in the industry due to confusion about its applicability. To set certain things clear, HIPAA Enforcement will not be applicable […]

Humans are naturally curious creatures. Simply put, wondering about our world and the other people living in it is basic human nature. For some people, celebrities are mere commodities, but for others, they’re modern marvels. Some people can’t help but be curious about the lives of the rich and famous—all the while, the itch to snoop and snitch on celebs is detrimental for those employed in health care. HIPAA laws are privacy laws in the […]

Healthcare giant CVS exposed over a billion health records via a misconfigured cloud database leak. The Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based health services provider owns CVS Pharmacy, CVS Caremark, and Aetna. Website Planet’s security researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered the database leak while conducting routine internet scanning for exposed cloud databases. Fowler said the database did not have any authentication mechanisms or an access password. Exposed health records could help attackers target users The 204 GB leaked database contained just […]

All employers should review and implement the all-industries guidance, and healthcare employers should take steps now to implement the ETS. All employers should be mindful of the health and safety of their workforce and worksites, including reviewing and evaluating updated COVID-19 guidance issued by OSHA for all industries, and its Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) applicable only to healthcare employers. Both of these pronouncements were issued by OSHA on June 10, 2021. In this article, we […]