At least 344 organizations in the healthcare industry suffered data breaches in 2022, according to a just-released report from the Identity Theft Research Center® (ITRC). This is the third consecutive year that healthcare organizations led all industries in the number of data compromises noted in the ITRC report. Healthcare organizations represented 19 percent of the 1,802 breaches reported in the 2022 ITRC [...]
Using social media to promote your business can be an excellent way to grow your practice. But have you thought about how HIPAA plays into your social media strategy? Twitter, for instance, can be used, but with certain restrictions. In the traditional sense, Twitter is not HIPAA compliant. Why? Twitter does not sign business associate agreements (BAAs) with users. Twitter’s Terms of [...]
On January 5th, wireless company T-Mobile discovered that hackers accessed data of about 37 million of its customers. Some of the data accessed included names, birth dates, emails, phone numbers and billing addresses, which in the healthcare industry, can be considered protected health information (PHI) when dealing with the treatment of a patient. Although T-Mobile doesn’t believe the systems were breached and [...]
Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but when healthcare staff does, it can cause significant repercussions regarding HIPAA. But by being aware of common HIPAA mistakes staff makes, you can limit your practice’s risk. Sharing login credentials with a coworker Improperly accessing medical charts Sharing patient information on social media Responding to online patient reviews Leaving portable electronic devices unattended Failing to respond to [...]
In a world where hundreds of millions of tweets, posts, snaps, and stories are posted on social media daily, sharing information about our lives may seem like second nature. But for those in the healthcare industry, sharing the wrong thing could result in a HIPAA violation. Here are a few examples of how a seemingly innocent social media post can go wrong [...]
According to a recent report, the national t
