Posts Tagged ‘privacy rule’

A Hospital Actively Enforcing HIPAA Requirements!

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

It is great to see a story published about a hospital, actually any type of organization that is a covered entity (CE), that is actively and seriously trying to be in compliance with HIPAA requirements.

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The First Ever HIPAA Audit: Where’s The Report? Does It Have Beef?

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

Gosh, I just had a flashback to the “Where’s the Beef” commercial from years ago… 🙂
The U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule went into effect in April, 2001, and gave covered entities (CEs) two years to get into compliance. The HIPAA Security Rule went into effect in April 2003 and CEs had until April 2005 to get into compliance.

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HIPAA & 4 Lessons From an Insider Threat Example: Former Healthcare IT Manager Hacks Into System and Deletes PHI

Monday, September 10th, 2007

There are so many ways in which bad things can happen with the authorized access personnel and business partners have to sensitive data, personally identifiable information (PII), and business systems. Many times the bad things that happen are a result of a lack of awareness of how to properly protect information, a result of mistakes, or a result of malicious intent. Here is just one more example to add to your file of actual insider threat incidents.

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HIPAA & 4 Lessons From an Insider Threat Example: Former Healthcare IT Manager Hacks Into System and Deletes PHI

Monday, September 10th, 2007

There are so many ways in which bad things can happen with the authorized access personnel and business partners have to sensitive data, personally identifiable information (PII), and business systems. Many times the bad things that happen are a result of a lack of awareness of how to properly protect information, a result of mistakes, or a result of malicious intent. Here is just one more example to add to your file of actual insider threat incidents.

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HIPAA Violation in Divorce Proceeding?

Friday, July 13th, 2007

During a divorce case in Illinios, K.S. Kim claimed a hospital violated HIPAA by sending her health records to her ex-husband’s attorney.

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HIPAA: More Changes and Initiatives by HHS

Thursday, April 26th, 2007

I’ve been reading so much about HIPAA lately; no enforcement actions yet, but a lot of changes, proposals and initiatives.
Two more I read about recently:

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HIPAA: Advisory Workgroup Proposes PHI Security and Privacy Requirements Should Apply to All Organizations

Monday, April 23rd, 2007

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has a Confidentiality, Privacy, and Security Workgroup, also known as the American Health Information Community, that is made up of practitioners, IT folks, lawyers and other leaders outside of the government who want a say in how protected health information (PHI) is safeguarded, shared, and otherwise handled.

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Admitted HIPAA Noncompliance at UPMC: Penalties Must Be Applied to Make Laws Effective

Monday, April 16th, 2007

On April 13 the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) admitted to using the records of 80 patients, including names and Social Security numbers, for a presentation they made at a 2002 symposium, in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

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HIPAA Security Rule and Privacy Rule Enforcement Reportedly Going To Be Pursued In 2007

Monday, April 9th, 2007

Something that has bothered me, and many others, for a very long time is how there have been absolutely no enforcement actions for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rule or security rule since they went into effect. Passing a law and then not doing anything to enforce it, even after the enforcement agencies have received tens of thousands of complaints reporting noncompliance, makes the law weak and prone to disregard by covered entities (CEs) who see others getting away with noncompliance with just a, “Whoops! Sorry, we’ll try to fix that.”

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