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HIPAA Compliance Quotes

HIPAA Compliance Quotes

HIPAA is a complex subject to write about, as there are a lot of misunderstandings about what HIPAA is and to who it applies. You can look to the information below to make your article research easier and provide clarity to your readers on common HIPAA topics. We provide an overview of specific HIPAA topics and correlating HIPAA compliance quotes.

HIPAA Compliance

What is HIPAA, who needs to comply, and how do they do so? The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) consists of three main rules that healthcare organizations must comply with. 

These rules include the HIPAA Privacy (dictates the proper use and disclosure of patient information), Security (requires the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of patient information to be maintained), and Breach Notification (requires breaches affecting patient information to be reported). 

Two types of healthcare organizations need to comply with HIPAA: covered entities and business associates. Covered entities include healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses. Business associates include vendors that service covered entities that may come into contact with patient information (managed service providers, EHRs, software providers, and many more).

To comply with HIPAA, or be HIPAA compliant, these organizations must: 

  • Conduct annual risk analyses
  • Implement remediation plans
  • Have written policies and procedures
  • Sign business associate agreements
  • Conduct annual employee HIPAA training 
  • Implement incident detection and response methods

Quotes About HIPAA Compliance

“There are two key points that you must understand if you have to be HIPAA compliant. First, it’s a journey, not a destination. You must continue to conduct risk assessments, train employees, and update policies and procedures to reflect what you are doing to meet the seven fundamental compliance elements. Second, one size fits all doesn’t truly fit anyone. The law requires you to tailor your compliance strategy to your organization’s operation. Two practices with the same number of patients, in the same city, offering the same services may not run their practices in the same manner.” –  Marc Haskelson, President and CEO, Compliancy Group.

Proposed Changes to HIPAA

As technology evolves, so must HIPAA. HIPAA was enacted prior to the internet age and, as such, provides very little guidance when it comes to cybersecurity best practices. Throughout the years, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has provided piecemeal cybersecurity guidance through “recommended practices” and newsletters. However, the law has not changed to reflect the tech-heavy climate that has become the norm to operate businesses efficiently and effectively.

In January 2021, the House passed bill HR 7898. This bill requires the HHS to incentivize healthcare organizations to implement “recognized cybersecurity frameworks” (NIST, SOC 2, CMMC). In essence, if a healthcare organization is breached and has implemented a “recognized cybersecurity framework” prior to the incident, it won’t be subject to costly HIPAA fines. Instead, they would receive technical assistance from the HHS to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. Additionally, there has been a spike in Privacy Rule-related HIPAA violations, causing the HHS to consider making changes in this area.

Quotes About Proposed Changes to HIPAA

“HR 7898 presents a somewhat complicated picture. As things stand now, HIPAA does not provide clear guidance as to what entities must do to meet the requirements of the Security Rule. Our expectation is that once the phrase “recognized security practices” is more defined guidance as to how to implement these practices will be made available.” – Daniel Lebovic, Senior Regulatory Attorney, Compliancy Group.

“None of the changes are cut from entirely new cloth. Each new proposed rule builds upon regulations that have already been in place for a substantial period of time. Organizations would be best-prepared to cope with the new rules by ensuring their HIPAA Privacy Rule policies and procedures already thoroughly cover the existing regulations, and by ensuring that staff has been trained on the regulations.”

Security Risk Analysis

One of the most important aspects of HIPAA compliance (and one of the most common reasons organizations are fined for lacking) is conducting an annual security risk analysis. A security risk analysis aims to measure an organization’s security practices against HIPAA standards. By doing so, organizations uncover weaknesses and vulnerabilities in their data security practices.

Quotes About Security Risk Analysis

“The healthcare industry has become a prime target for hackers. With the threat growing each year, healthcare organizations must be vigilant in their efforts to keep patient information secure. Completing your annual security risk analysis can mean all the difference in detecting and defending against breaches before they do irreparable damage to your organization.” – Marc Haskelson, President and CEO, Compliancy Group.

“Look at the statistics of HIPAA violations and fines. You can trace an overwhelming majority of them directly to the failure to conduct or complete a security risk analysis. When properly done, this analysis provides a snapshot of an organization’s current state of compliance so that gaps can be identified and remediated. The government demands that it be done every year because it serves as a measuring stick of what is being done. It is an essential part of building the case that an organization is making a good faith effort to comply with the HIPAA laws.” – Liam Degnan, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Compliancy Group.

Employee HIPAA Training

Employee HIPAA training is essential to an organization’s HIPAA compliance. How can employees determine what is appropriate if they aren’t appropriately trained? HIPAA dictates that employees must be trained on HIPAA basics, cybersecurity best practices, and their organization’s internal HIPAA policies and procedures. This training must be conducted annually – and provide the means for the training to be tracked by administrators and attested to by employees.

Quotes About Employee HIPAA Training

“Modern cybersecurity is more of a human issue than anything else. An organization can have the most sophisticated tech in place protecting their sensitive data but when employees are not properly trained, the tech is ineffective. The majority of breaches that occur are due to human error, a lost/stolen device, or an employee opening an email that they shouldn’t.” – Marc Haskelson, CEO and President, Compliancy Group.

“A once a year organization-wide HIPAA training session is not enough. This type of training is not only ineffective, it violates HIPAA. Each employee must be trained upon hire and retrained annually. You also need to make sure – through employee attestation – that employees understood the training material, and will abide by its guidance.” – Charlotte Barenz, Vice President of Implementation, Compliancy Group.

Breaches and Fines

Healthcare organizations are one of the most highly targeted sectors by hackers. The wealth of information held on patients and often weak security practices make them a prime target. This leads to a staggering number of healthcare breaches each year. Organizations that are breached are also more likely to be scrutinized by the HHS. These HHS investigations frequently lead to the discovery of HIPAA violations, causing them to issue costly fines.

Quotes About Breaches and Fines

“It is more important than ever for healthcare organizations to be aware of the threat to their security. Being prepared for a healthcare breach – by becoming HIPAA compliant and implementing robust cybersecurity practices – can mean all the difference in how your organization copes with the aftermath of an incident.” –  Marc Haskelson, President and CEO, Compliancy Group.

“Most healthcare breaches occur because organizations believe that they are doing enough to protect themselves. However, we have seen with many new customers that they have weak cybersecurity tools in place. There is a widespread misconception that just because an organization is small, they will not be a victim of a breach. This misbelief is putting patient information at risk as small businesses are targeted more frequently than large corporations. This is because today’s hackers are more knowledgeable, they realize that small businesses are easier targets.” –  Marc Haskelson, President and CEO, Compliancy Group.

“While you can take measures to ensure that your PHI is secure, this won’t prevent human error due to misunderstanding of HIPAA requirements.” – Lauren Vetter, Digital Marketing Manager, Compliancy Group.

“A lot of small practices focus on the cost of becoming HIPAA compliant, not realizing that the cost of noncompliance is much higher. The HHS has continued to prove this true, issuing the majority of recent HIPAA fines to single-practitioners. This is not a trend likely to end anytime soon.” – Monica McCormack, Director of Content Strategy, Compliancy Group.

Healthcare Cybersecurity

Healthcare cybersecurity measures are often lacking. With the lack of definitive guidance on cybersecurity best practices from the HHS, healthcare organizations, more often than not, are left to fend for themselves. This leads to substantial security gaps that make organizations vulnerable to breaches.

Quotes About Healthcare Cybersecurity

“Customers must be able to adapt their cybersecurity policies to apply to an array of threats. Cybersecurity is an ongoing issue that should be monitored closely, to be secure it is important that organizations have a system in place to assess how their current cybersecurity practices measure up to new threats, and are able to make changes quickly to keep up with new trends.” –  Marc Haskelson, President and CEO, Compliancy Group.

“There should be an open dialogue on cybersecurity between all departments within an organization. It is essential to ensure that all members are on the same page when it comes to cybersecurity best practices. When there is a disconnect between departments, things fall through the cracks and security measures are not implemented properly.” –  Marc Haskelson, President and CEO, Compliancy Group.

HIPAA Compliant Communications

As technology evolves, so does how we communicate. However, there are specific rules that healthcare organizations must follow to ensure their communications are HIPAA compliant. Depending on the communication method used, the rules vary. 

Quotes About HIPAA Compliant Communications

Patient communication is an important part of HIPAA compliance that can be often overlooked. It can be difficult for healthcare providers to find information on what they can and cannot say through different types of communication platforms.” – Liam Degnan, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Compliancy Group.

State Data Privacy Laws

While HIPAA imposes federal privacy and security standards, many states also have data privacy laws. Businesses operating in those states must be aware of their obligations to uphold these laws. Organizations must follow the stricter regulation in cases where state law is more stringent than HIPAA.

Quotes About State Data Privacy Laws 

“While HIPAA may not apply to an organization, that does not mean a non-HIPAA covered entity may disregard patient privacy concerns. Recently, a number of states have passed their own data privacy and security laws. These laws regulate the privacy practices of organizations that HIPAA leaves untouched.” – Dan Lebovic,  Senior Regulatory Attorney, Compliancy Group

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