Archive for February, 2011

A Conversation About Privacy On the Internet with Rafal Los

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

I recently engaged in an interesting discussion with Rafal Los about the erosion of privacy as it relates to the Internet in general, and social media sites specifically.  I think my readers will some useful points and insights within our conversation; especially considering the often perceived adversarial relationship between anonymity and privacy.  I welcome your feedback!

So here we go… (more…)

HIPAA: It is About the Information!

Friday, February 4th, 2011

NOTE: This is a repost for those that have browsers that could not open the original. Hopefully this will fix the problem!

Over the years I’ve had a lot of organizations ask me about whether HIPAA applies to faxes, copy machines, and other types of specific technologies.  It is very important that covered entities (CEs), business associates (BAs) and their subcontractors understand that HIPAA applies to protecting the information!  It doesn’t matter what the conduit is for how the information is transmitted, or where it is stored or accessed from.  The important point is that protected health information (PHI), in all forms, must be protected. The Security Rule applies to only electronic data, but the Privacy Rule and HITECH apply to all forms of PHI.  Okay; let’s keep this in mind when considering the following question I got earlier this week from a HIPAA business associate… (more…)

HIPAA: It’s About the Information!

Friday, February 4th, 2011

Over the years I’ve had a lot of organizations ask me about whether HIPAA applies to faxes, copy machines, and other types of specific technologies.  It is very important that covered entities (CEs), business associates (BAs) and their subcontractors understand that HIPAA applies to protecting the information!  It doesn’t matter what the conduit is for how the information is transmitted, or where it is stored or accessed from.  The important point is that protected health information (PHI), in all forms, must be protected. The Security Rule applies to only electronic data, but the Privacy Rule and HITECH apply to all forms of PHI.  Okay; let’s keep this in mind when considering the following question I got earlier this week from a HIPAA business associate… (more…)

HIPAA Compliance Investigations And The Insider Threat

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

I’ve been getting a lot more questions about HIPAA and HITECH lately from folks I’ve never met, but who have concerns about the security and privacy of their health information (“protected health information” or “PHI” as referenced within HIPAA/HITECH), businesses that are trying to understand how to protect PHI according to the regulatory requirements, and a growing number who express frustration with the unsecure ways in which clients, customers, patients and business partners are sharing information with them.  There just are not enough hours in the day to answer them all, but  I decided I’d start sharing some of the questions, and my corresponding answers, that seem to be topics that a wide range of readers may be interested in.

I was recently contacted by someone who had a question about a recent HIPAA complaint against Rowan Regional Medical Center (more…)