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Issue 1, December 28, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• How is your HIPAA auditing and compliance ­government entity doing?

  The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which provides oversight of other government entities...

• BAs and subcontractors need to take a closer look at compliance

  With major security breaches making headlines, HIPAA Phase 2 audits set to begin, and the OIG...

• Educate board on cybersecurity practices

  When President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13636 February 12, 2013, Dena Boggan, CPC, CMC...

• Prodcut Watch

  The healthcare industry uses email every day to store, distribute, and discuss critical...

• 2015 newsletter index

  Check out the 2015 BOH index to catch up on stories you may have missed.

• Privacy and Security Primer

  Tips from this month's issue

Issue 12, December 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Learn from 2015 HIPAA privacy and security breaches

  Ah. Breathe a sigh of relief, Mr. and Mrs. HIPAA privacy and security officer. Another year is...

• All I want for Christmas is ... no breaches and a little respect

  It's December. And that means gift-giving. What should you want for presents this holiday season...

• HIPAA veterans offer tips through nonprofit group

  If you need to copy some medical records that include PHI, you're probably on point when taking...

• Security Q&A: Laptop encryption and audit record recommendations

  Q: When you refer to a laptop being encrypted for security reasons, is that the same as...

• Tips from this month's issue

  Tips from this month's issue.

Issue 11, November 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Saying thanks: HIPAA compliance that will make you thankful this month

  It's November. It's the time of year when Americans give reasons for being thankful. One of them...

• Developing and implementing effective policies: Part 2

  This article incorporates activities that an organization can use to improve the policy process and...

• Mobile BYOD tips: 12 BYOD tips

  Mobile devices make work faster, smarter, more efficient, and just a lot easier.

• Product Watch: Agility Recovery helps CEs and BAs resume operations after a disaster

  Business continuity is critical when a disaster or other event occurs that disables any...

• Privacy and Security Primer

  Tips from this month's issue.

Issue 10, October 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Are you spooked yet? HIPAA compliance is not all that scary?or is it?

  Network attacks. Network downtimes. Cyber-terrorists. PHI.

• Case study: Wrong Patient-Wrong Information

  As privacy officer of a healthcare organization that includes about 12,000 employees in 14...

• Developing and implementing effective policies: Part one

  The HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules require the development and...

• Security Q&A: Recommendations for audit logs and encryption

  Q: The company I work for has long debated what to do about medical records that are sent out on...

• Privacy and security primer

  Tips from this month's issue.

Issue 9, September 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• HIPAA Phase 2 audits to focus on industry security deficiencies found in previous audits

  Ready or not, Phase 2 of OCR's HIPAA audit program is nearly ready to begin, and healthcare...

• Ostendio enhances its solution for ongoing compliance management

  There are a number of tools on the market to assist covered entities (CE) and business associates...

• Strengthening the business associate relationship

  HIPAA originally recognized the business associate (BA) as a contractor of a covered entity (CE...

• HIPAA Q&A: Film crews, drug reps, and charity care

  Q: Is it permissible to write down a patient's pending exams (e.g., MRI, ultrasound) on the...

• Tips from this month's issue

  1. The audit is intended as an educational tool, but if auditors discover serious noncompliance...

Issue 8, August 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Data breaches, lawsuits inescapable, but liability can be mitigated

  If your organization experiences a data breach—an increasingly likely scenario—and PHI...

• HIPAA Happenings: The ROI of your data security program

  There are compelling reasons with which to make a case to company executives of the benefits of a...

• The interplay of HIPAA and state laws

  There are times when state privacy and security laws trump HIPAA, and healthcare organizations and...

• HIPAA Q&A: Patient records, IDs, and security

  Email your HIPAA questions to Editor John Castelluccio at jcastelluccio@hcpro.com.

• Privacy and security primer

  Tips from this month's issue.

Issue 7, July 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Ponemon study identifies criminal attacks as leading cause of data breaches

  Criminal attacks on the healthcare industry have increased 125% since 2010, and are now the leading...

• MIDAS unique solution for early detection of medical ID theft and fraud

  Breaches of PHI are increasingly in the news and the value of the data stolen is high. The...

• Protecting patient privacy during an epidemic

  Emory University Hospital in Atlanta was thrust into the international spotlight in the summer of...

• HIPAA Q&A: Incidental disclosures in the ED

  Email your HIPAA questions to Editor John Castelluccio at jcastelluccio@hcpro.com.

• Privacy and security primer

  Tips from this month's issue.

Issue 6, June 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Compliance hinges on an understanding of security standards, but enhanced guidelines are needed

  Technology is changing rapidly, and so too are the ways in which healthcare organizations create...

• HIPAA Happenings: P.T. Barnum was right--buyer beware!

  P.T. Barnum once said, "There's a sucker born every minute." The sentiment that many...

• Security Q&A: Release of information, medical record access

  Q: I perform monthly HIPAA audits of computer systems at the medical group where I am employed. I...

• Authorization for disclosure of PHI

  Obtaining valid authorizations for disclosure is a significant area of risk for many organizations...

• Privacy and security primer

  Tips from this month's issue.

Issue 5, May 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Mergers and acquisitions: Health system considers information security pre- and post-merger

  Mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare industry are often decided upon and negotiated by...

• Product watch: Bitglass offers MDM solution without application installation

  Despite Bitglass, Inc.'s newness to the healthcare market, the company offers a mobile device...

• HIPAA Q&A: A focus on patient privacy

  Q: It is my understanding that written authorization is required for the release of PHI even for...

• Privacy and security primer

  Tips from this month's issue.  

Issue 4, April 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Anthem hack affects 80 million, underscores threat of medical identity theft

  Hackers gained unauthorized access to the information technology system of Anthem, Inc., and...

• Release of information: Distinct steps of the release of information process

  Release of information (ROI) is typically a function that is managed by the HIM department, but...

• HIPAA happenings: HIPAA: Back to the beginning

  There's considerable confusion about what HIPAA means and what your obligations are under the...

• Security Q&A: Data-at-rest protection, minimum necessary standard, disclosure of PHI

  Q: Is there a sample risk analysis about how an enterprise or clinic might evaluate and determine...

• Privacy and security primer

  Tips from this month's issue.

Issue 3, March 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Health information technology: Take steps to decrease risk when using technology

  The healthcare industry is continuously evolving, and health information technology (HIT) is...

• Product Watch: TigerText offers secure text messaging solution

  Secure text messaging presents challenges when it comes to ease of use and communicating with...

• HIPAA Q&A: Know when to disclose or withhold PHI

  Q: How should an organization handle patient requests to withhold PHI from the patient's insurance...

• Business case for privacy and security compliance assurance program

  A business case for resourcing a compliance assurance program for privacy and security should be...

• Privacy and security primer

  Tips from this month's issue.

Issue 2, February 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Cyber insurance may help cover the true cost of a breach

  Even organizations with sound policies, procedures, training, and safeguards can experience a...

• Role of risk analysis, risk management, and evaluation

  The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced December 8, 2014 that it fined an Alaska behavioral...

• HIPAA happenings: A tale of two standards: HIPAA or PCI, the devil is in the details

  There are many misconceptions about HIPAA throughout the healthcare industry. In particular...

• Security Q&A: Email, audit logs, photographs, video-conferencing, and more

  Q: As part of the audit controls policy at my organization, we hired an external security vendor...

• Privacy and security primer

  Tips from this month's issue.

Issue 1, January 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Perform vulnerability assessment before ­conducting penetration testing

  While organizations should focus on performing regular risk assessments and analyses, there are...

• HIPAA Q&A: Patient PHI and identifiable information

  Q: My facility no longer registers patients under aliases, but will allow them to opt out of the...

• Ring in the new year: Privacy and security tips and strategies for 2015

  As the new year kicks off, many opt to make resolutions for the months ahead. BOH asked some...

• Product Watch: HITRUST offers help with security assessments

  At this point, there are no federally recognized HIPAA certification standards for covered...

• Briefings on HIPAA 2014 index

    Check out the 2014 BOH index to catch up on stories you may have missed.  

• Privacy and security primer

  Tips from this month's issue.