March 15, 2015 Second Round of HIPAA Compliance Audits Delayed The second round of HIPAA compliance audits appear to be on permanent hold. Office for Civil Rights Director, Jocelyn Samuels, explained at the recent 23rd ... Read more
March 10, 2015 Anthem Refuses Government IT Security Audit In February this year, Anthem Inc., was hit by a massive HIPAA breach which potentially exposed the data of up to 80 million plan members; ... Read more
March 9, 2015 Last Minute Preparations Take Place for the National HIPAA Summit Healthcare industry leaders are due to convene next week for the 23rd National HIPAA Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. The Summit, ... Read more
March 8, 2015 Evansville Clinic Sends 4400 Patient Breach Notification Letters After E-mail Hack St. Mary’s Medical Center has sent 4,400 patient breach notification letters warning of a HIPAA breach in which hackers gained access to several email accounts ... Read more
February 28, 2015 5 Commonest Health IT Security Risks Security threats are numerous, and with attacks coming from all angles it is important to conduct regular risk assessments; however, be sure to watch out ... Read more
February 25, 2015 Damages Sought for 2014 Aventura Hospital HIPAA Breach A patient has filed a lawsuit in a Florida Federal Court and is seeking damages following the 2014 Aventura Hospital HIPAA compliance breach, according to ... Read more
February 18, 2015 Penalty for Theft of Healthcare Data Can be Severe The penalty for theft of healthcare data can be severe, yet many individuals choose to risk imprisonment by accessing and disclosing the protected health information ... Read more
February 16, 2015 New Initiative Launched to Prevent Improper Accessing of Patient Data One of the largest threats to patient privacy comes from hospital staff, but it is difficult to prevent improper accessing of patient data by employees and ... Read more
January 30, 2015 OCR to Clarify Mobile Health HIPAA Rules The Department of Health and Human Services has accepted that mobile health HIPAA rules need to be clarified and has confirmed that the OCR understands ... Read more
January 29, 2015 Secure SMS Messaging Service Will Replace Standard SMS Texts Mobile communications technology has come a long way in the past 35 years, and as technology continues to advance, it has been predicted that standard ... Read more
January 24, 2015 Sutter Health HIPAA Breach Announced A not-for-profit medical center has reported a breach of patient health information. Sutter Health of Northern California discovered an employee had inappropriately accessed patient records ... Read more
January 16, 2015 Big Data Legislative Changes Necessary to Protect Patient Privacy In December last year, the Health IT Policy Committee’s Privacy and Security Workgroup met twice to discuss potential big data legislative changes. The impact big ... Read more
January 15, 2015 Better Support for Hospital Mobile Devices Required Smartphone use in hospitals is now commonplace, and according to a recent survey conducted by Spyglass Consulting on the use of hospital mobile devices, it ... Read more
January 14, 2015 Safeway Issued $10M HIPAA Fine for Improper Dumping For more than seven years the grocery chain, Safeway, has been improperly disposing of confidential patient records from its pharmacies according to California prosecutors. In ... Read more
January 13, 2015 New Jersey HIPAA Data Encryption Laws to Change From July, 2015, all New Jersey healthcare organizations, health plans, clearing houses and business associates will be required to comply with updated New Jersey HIPAA ... Read more
January 12, 2015 Indiana Attorney General Issues Fine for Dumped PHI Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, state Attorney Generals’ offices are permitted to issue financial penalties to violators of HIPAA Rules, and the ... Read more
December 24, 2014 State Fines for HIPAA Violations Increase The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services issued fines for HIPAA violations, but state fines for HIPAA violations can ... Read more
December 1, 2014 Wearable Devices: HIPAA Regulations Apply They are all the rage and they are finding their way into healthcare environments, but beware; when it comes to wearable devices, HIPAA regulations apply! ... Read more
October 24, 2014 Tenet Health Data Breach: Lawsuit Settled for $32.5 Million Seventeen years after the Tenet health data breach, the lawsuit brought against the company by the victims whose PHI was exposed has been settled for ... Read more
October 18, 2014 Skagit County Hit with $215K Fine for Government HIPAA Violation The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has issued its first fine for a government HIPAA compliance violation, stipulating that Skagit ... Read more
October 6, 2014 Lack of Support for Older Equipment Presents Medical Device Security Risk A medical device security risk is not being addressed by device manufacturers according to complaints received by the FDA from healthcare providers. It is alleged ... Read more
September 17, 2014 82,601 Records Exposed in Third Aventura Hospital HIPAA Breach A third Aventura Hospital HIPAA compliance breach has been announced potentially affecting more than 82,000 patients after going unnoticed for 21 months. It has been ... Read more
September 15, 2014 Cloud Cost Management Firm Cloudyn Raises $4 Million in Funding The cloud cost management and optimization business is highly competitive, with several new startups offering platforms that can help businesses improve their return on their ... Read more
September 11, 2014 Second Round of HIPAA Audits are to be Delayed The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has announced that the second round of HIPAA audits are to be delayed in ... Read more
August 19, 2014 Community Health Systems Reports Largest HIPAA Breach of 2014 The largest HIPAA compliance breach of 2014 has just been reported by Community Health Systems (CHS) following a security incident in which hackers managed to ... Read more
August 5, 2014 Parkview Health Ordered to Pay Fine for Violating the HIPAA Privacy Rule Parkview Health, an Indiana-based Healthcare System, has recently been ordered to pay the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) $800,000 ... Read more
July 27, 2014 Do Unencrypted Text Messages Violate HIPAA? Do unencrypted text messages violate HIPAA rules? Two medical professionals in North Carolina have found out that they do. Text message HIPAA violations appear to ... Read more
July 22, 2014 John Hopkins Health System hit with HIPAA Privacy Rule Lawsuit A particularly distasteful HIPAA Privacy Rule violation that occurred at John Hopkins Health System has now resulted in a $190 million class-action HIPAA Privacy Rule ... Read more
June 26, 2014 Cyberattack Responsible for HIPAA Breach at Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services A cyberattack is being held responsible for a HIPAA breach at Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS). Montana Department of Public Health ... Read more
June 16, 2014 Data Encryption for Stored Healthcare Data Data encryption for stored healthcare data is essential, as storing PHI on portable devices without using data encryption carries a high risk that the data ... Read more