The Compliancy Group's HIPAA Blog

20 03, 2019

Avoiding Cybersecurity Disaster: Lessons from the Top Security Breaches

Frank Sivilli2019-03-20T10:25:28+00:00March 20th, 2019|

Throughout the world, the frequency of cyber attacks is on the rise, with the US featuring as the largest victim. Typically, small- and mid-size businesses are at the receiving end of cyber attacks and data breaches. In 2018, there were various frightening cybersecurity breaches at important organizations, which compromised sensitive information and data of the users and the business. Let’s take a look at cybersecurity disaster prevention methods, 4 [...]

19 03, 2019

Guess What? MSPs Need to be HIPAA Compliant Too.

Frank Sivilli2019-03-20T15:40:01+00:00March 19th, 2019|

As an MSP, you know the importance of data security. HIPAA regulation has become an essential part of maintaining that security in today’s health care market. Some of your customers may be healthcare providers, clearinghouses, or businesses that deal with electronic protected health information (ePHI) and therefore, are concerned about their HIPAA compliance. HIPAA, or The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was first enacted in 1996. It sets [...]

16 03, 2019

Missouri Email Data Breach Affects Thousands

Frank Sivilli2019-03-16T11:16:39+00:00March 16th, 2019|

Cybersecurity threats are continuing to impact how healthcare organizations operate on a daily basis. Choice Rehabilitation of Creve Coeur, MO, recently experienced this when an unauthorized individual hacked into a corporate email account of one of its employees. The hacker began his email data breach on July 1, 2018 to a personal email account using a mail forwarder and it remained active until September 30, 2018. After analyzing the [...]

15 03, 2019

5 Common HIPAA Privacy Gaps (And How to Avoid Them)

Frank Sivilli2019-03-15T16:36:09+00:00March 15th, 2019|

Although HIPAA is known to all healthcare organizations as well as most patients, implementing HIPAA requirements is often easier said than done. The HIPAA Privacy Rule contains more than 50 standards and implementation specifications, all of which must be implemented by a covered entity, with few exceptions. But with so many standards, many organizations face challenges. Many of these challenges are similar and consistent among organizations, despite healthcare [...]

14 03, 2019

3 Tips to Improve HIPAA Employee Monitoring: Guidelines for Employers

Frank Sivilli2019-03-14T16:52:07+00:00March 14th, 2019|

The healthcare industry has embraced some of the many changes to health care technology. But the benefits of convenience and quality care have been paired alongside growing threats to data privacy and security. Healthcare providers are regularly handling patients’ sensitive health information, and as the industry continues to advance its technology, the data becomes more vulnerable to theft or breach. HIPAA employee monitoring is an important feature of an [...]

11 03, 2019

Aetna Pays $935,000 Fine for California HIV Status Breach

Frank Sivilli2019-03-11T16:32:11+00:00March 11th, 2019|

Aetna, a Connecticut-based health insurer, has agreed to pay the California Attorney General $935,000 to resolve a 2017 privacy breach that exposed state residents’ HIV status. California HIPAA violations have been increasingly prosecuted on a state-level resulting in Attorney General fines over the past few years, and this is just the most recent example. The breach occurred on July 28, 2017, when Aetna’s mailing vendor sent letters to members [...]

8 03, 2019

New Bill Seeks to Expand California Data Breach Notification Law

Frank Sivilli2019-03-11T13:06:57+00:00March 8th, 2019|

Another California data breach has lead state lawmakers to introduce additional laws in regards to HIPAA. California has already introduced some of the toughest data breach notification laws in the United States, and these may soon become even tougher after the new bill is signed into effect. If a California data breach occurs, state law requires that data breach notifications to be issued to consumers. This includes any breach [...]

7 03, 2019

OCR HIPAA Enforcement Gets Serious Amid Growing Patient Complaints

Frank Sivilli2019-03-11T12:05:14+00:00March 7th, 2019|

Patient complaints regarding HIPAA violations have become more prominent over the last few years and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is now taking even more action to address these issues. OCR is urging more healthcare organizations and their vendors to change their privacy and security policies to decrease the amount of complaints. HIPAA violations can occur when there is a [...]

5 03, 2019

Florida HIPAA Fine: No BAA Results in $500,000 Fine

Frank Sivilli2019-03-05T17:28:32+00:00March 5th, 2019|

A recent $500,000 Florida HIPAA fine is just another example of the growing trend of HIPAA violations cropping up across the country, all stemming from the lack of properly executed business associate agreements. Advanced Care Hospitalists PL (ACH) has agreed to pay a $500,000 HIPAA fine to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) after a HIPAA investigation revealed violations. ACH provides [...]

4 03, 2019

HIPAA Fines Are Just the Beginning: Civil HIPAA Lawsuits On the Rise

Sabrina Riley2019-03-05T13:58:06+00:00March 4th, 2019|

Community Health Systems (CHS) was issued a $4,500,000 HIPAA fine for a reported 2014 data breach. It looks like the data breach resulted from malware which was installed by Chinese hackers on CHS’s computer system. This incident exposed approximately 4.5 million patients’ names, dates of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, and social security numbers. But that was just the beginning of the monetary penalties that CHS was about to [...]