HIPAA

As part of the July 4 activities, a hacking group known as ObamaCare posted 9,948,575,739 unencrypted passwords to the internet in a file titled rockyou2024.

Business Associate Agreements are necessary contracts between healthcare providers and Business Associates. Required by HIPAA, the BAA provides protections for your office and the PHI that your office shares with Business Associates.

To keep your network secure, your office must keep your software up-to-date. Software providers will release updates when there is an identified vulnerability. Ransomware such as Blast Basta will take advantage of these vulnerabilities if you do not patch quickly.

There are a number of major changes to HIPAA. The major changes relate to: Public Reporting and Reporting to protect Patients Reporting of patient data related to substance use disorder treatment Reporting of patient data related to reproductive health Updates to the Notice of Privacy Practices and Business Associate Agreement

"The doctors in our practice request patients to text or email them photos of their various foot conditions and post-op P&As to their personal mobile phones. We know this is not HIPAA compliant. What is a better way to handle these situations?"

Under HIPAA, you are responsible to protect Protected Health Information (PHI). But what exactly is PHI?

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is a security measure that can be enabled. What does MFA do and how does it help your office maintain HIPAA compliance?

When discussing text messaging, the best practice is to NOT text patients. However, texting can be a useful tool and there are steps your office can take to mitigate the risks associated with texting patients.

When a breach occurs, offices are required to notify the patients whose information may have been compromised in the breach. This is known as the Breach Notification Rule.

Under the HITECH Act, passed in 2009, the secretary is required to post all breaches affecting 500 or more patients to the internet. This applies to all medical providers and Business Associates. This web site is commonly referred to as the HIPAA Wall of Shame. You can find it at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/breach/breach_report.jsf