Help Me With Hipaa

Today we discuss 5 medical record uses and disclosures rules that I have been covering recently in training.  Medical records are always around for those of us in healthcare. It is so easy to forget that the rules apply to more than just data breaches and social media.  There are some very basic concepts that people who have been dealing with medical records for years are surprised to learn. Here are five of them we use the most. More at

We need to keep up with our education just like everyone else to keep up with cybersecurity tips and trends.  Donna hit some training at SecureWorld and sat in on a 6-hr online seminar offered by Dark Reading. All of that thinking and learning means we have cybersecurity tips and trends to share in this episode.  This is not just for those who worry about HIPAA. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/212

The debate continues in ransomware attacks, do you make the ransom payment or not?  Lately, we have seen many payments being announced. This should be in your incident response plan ransomware playbook.  These decisions should be discussed now, not when an attack happens. What are the pros and cons to paying and what should be in your ransomware response plans? More info on Help Me With HIPAA blog post.

False claims settlements over meaningful use money have popped into the news again. The provider was sued by whistleblowers and the DOJ for not doing a security risk analysis but attesting to one to get the meaningful use payments anyway. There is whistleblower's angle in this case which makes it even more interesting. If you know anyone that has received any meaningful use money they should check out this episode! More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/210

This new BA guidance from OCR is important because it defines clearly all the things we hear misstated over and over.  Several of our Top 10 Wrong HIPAA Statements episode are addressed in the simple ten item list. Today we will discuss the announcement and what does that mean to BAs and their privacy and security programs. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/209

The multi-state settlement with Medical Informatics Engineering makes the OCR settlement seem like a cake walk.  The vendor agrees to pay OCR $100,000 with a standard 2-year corrective action plan. The states get $900,000 plus 5 years of very specific corrective action requirements.  Vendors need to pay attention to this case and take appropriate action now. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/208

Sanction policies are often vague or even overlooked in many privacy and security programs.  The whole point of a sanction policy is to list out the consequences for failure to follow our policies and procedures.  With a vague or non-existent policy consequences aren’t clear which leads to a lack of concern for failure to follow the policy in the first place.  You will never build a culture that worries about protecting information without it being clear that is a requirement for inclusion in our culture. How do you sanction?   More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/207

Maturity is something we expect from respected folks or grown folks but what about your privacy and security program, do you check it’s maturity?  You have all of these plans, policies, procedures, and training but is it actually meeting your needs? Time to talk maturity assessments. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/206

The latest HIPAA violation settlement with OCR was announced recently.  Ironically, the settlement with Touchstone Medical Imaging was for $3,000,000 and announced just after the reduction of maximum penalties was announced by HHS.  Just how bad was this violation to get hit with this level of penalties plus the 2-year corrective action plan? More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/205

Headlines everywhere are telling us all that the HIPAA penalties are being “slashed” or “capped” or “reduced”.  What is the real story and what does it mean to the rest of us? Great time to talk about what you should consider if you think you will be facing any HIPAA penalties. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/204

We have talked many times about vetting business associates.  When people talk about supply chain security it isn’t just the business associate you contract with you have to worry about.  It is all the vendors that they use. Today we are going to review 3 supply chain stories that explain how complex your supply chain unbeknownst to you. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/203

We are all being watched. Cameras are everywhere today. With the advent of dashcams, home security camera systems, CCTV in cities and businesses we are caught on camera somewhere every day. What does that mean when you have privacy concerns to address like, I don’t know, HIPAA? More info HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/202

We discussed this whole Alexa and HIPAA thing before.  This week came the big announcement from Amazon that had headlines telling us that Alexa is HIPAA compliant with some slick new medical skills. Time to talk about her again.  Let’s see what the announcement really said.  While we are at it we will also look into the story that Amazon also has thousands of people sitting around listening to Alexa requests all day long. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/201

It is hard to believe we are recording our 200th episode. Some might even say it is close to a miracle that David and Donna could stay focused on one thing for this long. Probably very true. Our passion for what we do here is more than most people would think. We truly do believe that tagline we use in every episode “HIPAA is not about compliance; it’s about patient care.”. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/200

Medical record release is becoming a heated topic.  There are several parties involved in the discussion.  Of course, the patient and their rights to the medical record comes first.  Then, you have the providers trying to meet their obligations to supply the records.  But, there are also lawyers and medical record release of information companies and, of course, OCR involved.  Today we will try to make some sense out of the mess. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/199

We come bearing news from the 2019 HIPAA Summit, today. Officially, it was The 28th Annual National HIPAA Summit. The event happened in March from Washington, DC. Thankfully, they have offered a webcast option along with onsite attendance for years. I sat in on the HIPAA Summit sessions again via webcast and there is much to share. For more info go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/198

We are fans of the podcast DarkNet Diaries, “True stories from the dark side of the Internet”.  As fans, it explains why we are excited to have Jack Rhysider, the host of DarkNet Diaries, on the podcast with us today.  Prepare to be surprised by some of these real hacker stories. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/197

It is important to think about what could happen if one of your vendors is the reason you become another business listed in data breach statistics. Third-party data breaches can impact your business even when it doesn't involve your data. These stories show how many different angles you should use when reviewing their impact on your business. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/196

John Miller, CEO of Sterling Seacrest Partners, was with us back at the beginning of our podcast experiment. Over 100 episodes ago, in February 2017 on episode 89, we first talked with him about cyber insurance policies. Today we’ve brought John back to discuss how cyber insurance coverage has changed over the last two years. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/195

Ransomware is getting scarier even if you don’t know it yet.  It appears that the lull we enjoyed through the last bit of 2018 may be over.  Not only are the incidents increasing but the mechanisms and ransom demands are changing.  Yes, no matter how we looked at it we had to say ransomware is getting scarier than it has been since the beginning of 2018. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/194