What is HIPAA Cybersecurity?
What is HIPAA?
HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a law that was enacted in 1996 to protect patients’ medical records. The goal of HIPAA is to ensure that individuals can move from one health plan to another without having to worry about losing access to their medical records or having them stolen by hackers.
HIPAA covers four main areas:
- Privacy – Individuals must have control over their personal information, including who gets access and how it’s used.
- Security – Organizations must take steps to safeguard sensitive data from unauthorized disclosure or theft (which includes encryption).
- Breach Notification – When there’s been any kind of breach involving protected health information (PHI), organizations are required by law to notify affected individuals within 60 days after discovery of said breach–and they must also report incidents internally so they don’t happen again!
How are Violations Decided?
The tiers are as follows:
- Tier 1 – $100-$50,000 in fines and penalties
- Tier 2 – $50,000-$1 million in fines and penalties
- Tier 3 – $1 million+ in fines and penalties.
Penalty Tiers
The penalty tiers are determined by the level of culpability and the minimum penalty per violation. The maximum penalty per violation is also listed, along with an annual penalty limit.
- Level I (Lowest)
- Minimum Penalty: $100-$50,000 per violation
- Maximum Penalty: $1,500-$55 million per year in aggregate fines/penalties (for multiple violations)
What Can We Do to Stop It?
While the fines are steep, they’re not impossible to pay. If you’re currently struggling with a lack of staff or resources, there are steps you can take to ensure your practice is compliant with HIPAA regulations.
- Create a HIPAA booklet: A lot of people think that if they have their employee handbook in place and it has all the right information about what’s expected from employees and how they should behave at work, then everything else will follow suit automatically. But this isn’t true–you also need specific policies regarding electronic medical records (EMRs) usage and security measures that go beyond what is outlined in general employment policies. In fact, even if you do have an EMR policy in place now but haven’t updated it recently (or ever), creating one now would be beneficial because many new laws have been passed since then which may apply specifically to your practice’s situation.
- Complete a Risk Assessment: This involves analyzing every aspect of how information flows through your organization–from patient intake forms through billing processes–and determining which areas could cause problems if left unchecked.
- Ensure You Have The Staff And Team Required To Manage Your Practice: There are certain tasks related to keeping up-to-date with regulations such as completing annual reports on time; ensuring compliance with state laws; monitoring quality assurance programs; ensuring proper disposal procedures are followed etc..
- Tracking Remediation Items: It’s essential to keep track of your remediation items and have a system in place for addressing them. Regularly monitoring progress and ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to rectify identified issues will help prevent future violations.
The Importance of Employee Training
One of the key aspects of HIPAA compliance is ensuring that your employees are well-trained and understand the importance of protecting patient information. Regular training sessions should be held to keep staff up-to-date with the latest regulations and best practices for handling sensitive data.
Cybersecurity Best Practices
In addition to employee training and having a strong HIPAA compliance program in place, it’s crucial to implement cybersecurity best practices to safeguard your organization’s data. Here are some steps you can take to protect your healthcare institution from cyber threats:
- Secure your network: Implement firewalls and other security measures to protect your network from unauthorized access.
- Use strong passwords: Encourage employees to use strong, unique passwords for all systems that contain sensitive information.
- Keep software up-to-date: Regularly update all software, including operating systems and antivirus programs, to protect against known vulnerabilities.
- Implement multi-factor authentication: Require employees to use multiple forms of identification when accessing sensitive systems.
- Regularly monitor and audit your systems: Regularly review access logs and other system records to identify potential security threats and address them before they become major issues.
HIPAA fines can be extremely costly for healthcare organizations, but by following the guidelines outlined above and investing in proper security measures, you can significantly reduce the risk of violations. Remember to regularly assess your organization’s compliance with HIPAA regulations, provide ongoing employee training, and implement cybersecurity best practices to safeguard your patients’ sensitive information and maintain a secure healthcare environment.
🎧 Ready to dive deeper? Listen to our Tech for Business podcast episode “Can you afford $100,000 in HIPAA fines?” to learn more about the importance of HIPAA compliance and how to protect your organization from costly violations. Click the link below to access the episode and gain valuable insights from our compliance experts!
🎙️ Listen to the Podcast Episode Here
Sources:
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website provides detailed information about HIPAA, including the specific regulations and penalties associated with violations: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/index.html
The HIPAA Journal is an online resource for healthcare providers and organizations, offering news and analysis on HIPAA compliance, data breaches, and other related topics: https://www.hipaajournal.com/
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides guidelines and best practices for cybersecurity, including recommendations for protecting electronic medical records: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-cybersecurity-framework