Many healthcare providers are unclear as to when a request is made by an individual pursuant to a HIPAA authorization versus a HIPAA access request, particularly when a patient wants records to be sent to a third party, a HIPAA compliance officer at a law firm explained.
The goal is to help public health departments collect information vital to their efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Office for Civil Rights in the US Department of Health and Human Services announced proposed changes to strengthen patients’ rights to access their own health information, improve care coordination, and reduce regulatory burdens.
Healthcare providers should take steps now to ensure that the telehealth modalities they use are HIPAA compliant.
The US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has levied big fines against medical organizations who failed to adhere to HIPAA requirements to release medical records to patients at their request.
Practices need to know all of the components of their health information systems to determine potential vulnerabilities.
Hackers have penetrated healthcare providers’ computer systems to encrypt information and demand money for its release.
Putting information in the cloud can be a good move for a physician’s practice — but only if done well.
Regardless of the challenges a smaller group might have, a risk assessment is a baseline for any HIPAA program. The cost of this assessment is considerably less than a HIPAA fine.
NRC Health, a software and patient satisfaction survey provider holding data from more than 25 million patients, was locked out of its computer system in February because of a ransomware attack. When a breach like this occurs, the fault (at least in the eyes of the federal Office for Civil Rights [OCR]) tends to land…
