Do You Have a Disaster Recovery Plan, and Have You Tested It?
As much as we hope every business is preparing a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) to deal with the growing technological advancements with storing and sharing ePHI, at this moment in time the majority are still lagging behind. When your company’s data or the Protected...
Charity Week: Pack for a Purpose
Make your Travels Meaningful! This week, we are taking a break from our usual HIPAA Blogs to spotlight Pack for a Purpose (PfaP) www.Packforapurpose.org, one of the great charities we work with here at Total HIPAA. With summer in full swing, many of you will be taking...
Does HIPAA Restrict Healthcare Professionals from Communicating with Family and Friends?
Buddy Dyer, the mayor of Orlando, requested a waiver of the HIPAA rules following the June 12 shooting at Pulse Nightclub. Families and loved ones were inquiring about the status of patients located at local hospitals, but were not provided timely reports. Many of the...
Why an Employer Group Has to Be HIPAA Compliant
We are often asked why employers should worry about being HIPAA compliant when HHS says that employers are exempt from HIPAA Privacy & Security rules. It is true that employers are exempt but the group health plans that they sponsor must be compliant. Your HR...
We Had a HIPAA Breach – Now What Do We Do?
Are you prepared if a breach happens to you? Hopefully, you already have a plan in place and know exactly what to do. For those of you who don’t have a plan, this blog will help you prepare. First, let’s identify whether the incident is really a breach or if it is a...
Is Your HIPAA Security Plan for Cloud Computing Bullet-Proof?
When HIPAA laws were first established in 1996, large-scale cloud storage was in its infancy. Today, it would be hard to imagine business without cloud technologies. The HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules don’t directly address how to incorporate them into your...
Employees Are Your Biggest HIPAA Vulnerability
While 2015 was accurately dubbed “The Year of the Healthcare Hack”, according to Experian’s 2016 Data Breach Report, 2016’s largest threat hits much closer to home – it’s your own employees. The Experian report states, “While large breaches may be compromising...
Real World Cost of a HIPAA Breach
When we talk about HIPAA compliance much of the emphasis is on avoiding Office of Civil Rights (OCR) fines and penalties. It is understandable that some of you may be skeptical about the threat of an audit happening to your company. However, the cost of a real world...