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Entries from Realtime Community | IT Compliance tagged with 'HITECH Act'


What Happens To Privacy During Pandemics?

I am talking to increasing numbers of privacy and information security pros who are concerned about not only getting their pandemic plans in place, but also wanting to know what kinds of privacy issues need to be addressed within the...

Is Encryption Enough to Achieve Privacy?

Of course the answer is no. But there are many reasons! Tune in this afternoon at 4:00pm Pacific time to hear Anyck Turgeon, Scott Draughon and me discuss this topic and talk about encryption laws and the impacts to privacy....

HITECH Impacts Over 734,178 "Small Business" HIPAA Covered Entities

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 45 CFR Parts 160 and 164: "Breach Notification for Unsecured Protected Health Information; Interim Final Rule" (Breach Notice Rule) has been written about a lot. But much of what is written overlooks...

HITECH Act Virtual ToC

This was another very busy week, and I didn't have a chance to post as much as I would have liked. Part of what kept me busy was an unusually increased amount of email......

HHS & FTC Breach Notice Rules: First Time NIST Standards Specifically Referenced

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued their interim final rule for breach notification standards on August 19. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued their final rule of breach notification standards on August 17. The HHS rule covers all...

Fired Because Photo of Surgery Room Was A "HIPAA Violation"

I received a very interesting question yesterday, and I wanted to share it and my response here because it is a great HIPAA topic to discuss that I have not seen written about before. I've removed the identifying information, and...

8,918 HIPAA Violation Investigations Have Required Corrective Actions

Here are some important websites to bookmark for you to reference when you need help...beyond what I have on my blog and at my website :)...if you are a US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Covered Entity (CE)...

HIPAA/HITECH Breach Notice Rule: Applies To PHI of Deceased Individuals + Training A Key Element

After a few days unable to make time to post to the blog, or technical difficulties preventing me when I did make time, I'm happy to resume my posting! Today I want to offer a few thoughts about the breach...

You Need These Things When You Get HIPAA Audited!

I get a bit irritated when I see a vendor touting their "compliance solution" products as making organizations "HIPAA Compliant" or "PCI DSS Compliant" or whatever your regulation of choice happens to be, and then, upon inspection of their products,...

OCR Adding To Staff For Increased HIPAA Compliance Enforcement Activities

Monday the HHS announced they were moving responsibility for both HIPAA Security Rule and Privacy Rule under the OCR. That same day they also announced they were expanding the HIPAA "privacy enforcement team." (Scroll down on this page to see...

OCR Adding To Staff For Increased HIPAA Compliance Enforcement Activities

Monday the HHS announced they were moving responsibility for both HIPAA Security Rule and Privacy Rule under the OCR. That same day they also announced they were expanding the HIPAA "privacy enforcement team." (Scroll down on this page to see...

HIPAA Enforcement Will Improve With OCR Responsible for Both Privacy Rule & Security Rule

Today the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the OCR will now be responsible for both the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the Security Rule. Perhaps this is an indicator of more enforcement to come. As a...

(Lack Of) Encryption Is A Basis For Notification Under The HITECH Act

This week one of my tweeps asked me the following: "What's your interpretation of encryption obligations for PHI data-at-rest under HITECH? Many parties are sweating this now." Great question!...

HITECH Act: Breach Notification Is Necessary Based Upon Items Used In De-Identification

Continuing along the discussion of the HITECH Act this week, I want to consider a couple of questions I recently discussed with a CISO at a healthcare insurer about when breach notification is necessary......

Is This A Breach Under The HITECH Act Definition?

This week I want to take a closer look at some of the issues and requirements within the HITECH Act, which dramatically expands the reach and requirements under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)......

What is PII? How About "Publicly Available" Info?

There is much debate about what specific types of items should be considered as personally identifiable information (PII). A common topic of debate is; if information can be found publicly does that mean it is not PII?...

HIPAA, HITECH Act and Disposal Problems

Here's yet another incident that provides very good lessons that could be incorporated into information security and privacy training sessions as a case study, particularly for HIPAA compliance as well as secure disposal training......

HITECH Act does *NOT* make HIPAA, or HIPAA advice, "obsolete"!

A couple of weeks ago I was surprised and concerned by a statement made in one of my many listservs by a lawyer commenting on HIPAA books and past advice given for HIPAA compliance......

Podcast: HITECH Act adds new compliance requirements, penalties

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Alexander B. Howard at SearchCompliance.com for a 26 minute podcast......

HIPAA & HITECH Act Sanctions & Penalties

Today I had the great pleasure and opportunity to do a podcast with Alexander Howard over at TechTarget discussing HIPAA and the HITECH Act......

Breach Notices, Securing PHI & PHR Vendor Responsibilities Under HIPAA/HITECH Act

Last Friday the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released, at the last possible moment to meet their deadline, their interim final regulations to require covered entities (CEs) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and...

HIPAA Requirements Changes & Business Associates Impacts From HITECH Act

Last week I engaged in a very interesting tweetversation with David Mortman about when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) needs to get their guidance documents and rules published for the various HITECH Act requirements......

HIPAA Sanctions and Convictions Will Increase with HITECH Act & New Administration

Upon reading and researching HIPAA and the impact of the HITECH Act upon it, basically broadening its applicability as well as adding new requirements for privacy breach notifications, I recently was compelled to write an article about what I foresee...

Most Laws Are Flawed, But It Is Up To Us To Make Them Better & Make Them Work

Rafal Los makes some very good points in his post "Analysis of the Stimulus Bill and Healthcare Privacy" from a few days ago. I started writing all my thoughts as a comment to him, but then decided it would work...

HIPAA Violations: Nurses Allegedly Post X-Ray Photos To Facebook

Okay, here's a perfect real incident to use for a case study to argue discuss whether or not this is a HIPAA violation!...

Patient Privacy in Peril: EHRs, HITECH Act and $20B Handouts

On February 2 Allscripts released a report, "The 2009 Economic Stimulus Plan and the Electronic Health Record: Opportunities and Challenges for U.S. Medical Groups; A Survey of 1,800 Healthcare Professionals" (NOTE: Registration is required, but it's free.) A few excerpts...

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