Posts tagged as:

HIPAA

by: Larry Emmott at April 27, 2021.

Ohio Medical Center Pays OCR $65K for HIPAA Right of Access Failure

May 11, 2021

From Health IT Security: OCR reached a $65,000 settlement with the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, after failing to respond to a patient’s request for access to her medical records, as required by HIPAA. Source: Ohio Medical Center Pays OCR $65K for HIPAA Right of Access Failure Many dentists and dental team members are not […]

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Explaining the HIPAA Safe Harbor Act

May 6, 2021

Thank you to Danielle McKinley of PCI HIPAA The HIPAA Safe Harbor Act amends Subtitle D of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act act to require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to consider whether organizations have “recognized cybersecurity practices” in place when investigating a data breach, and […]

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Data breach lawsuit against pediatric dental center dropped, judge cites lack of evidence

July 27, 2020

From Becker’s: The lawsuit, dismissed July 16, alleged that the more than 391,000 patients whose data was affected are facing distress and financial losses due to their personal data being in insecure hands. However, U.S. District Judge Austin Huffaker dropped the case because the plaintiffs could not prove their data had been misused. Source: Data […]

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Delta Dental of Arizona Reports July 2019 Phishing Attack-Related Breach

November 14, 2019

Hmmm. Most significant data breaches in medicine and dentistry are not individual dentists but medical and dental plans. From Health IT Security: Delta Dental of Arizona is notifying an undisclosed number of individuals that their personal and medical data was potentially breached by a phishing attack in July.On July 8, the dental insurer discovered suspicious […]

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HHS Collected Record $28M For HIPAA Violations Last Year.

March 4, 2019

From ADA News: Modern Healthcare reported HHS said last week that it “collected a record $28.7 million from healthcare providers and insurers in 2018 for inadequate responses to data breaches.” This figure exceeds the total of $23.5 million for 2017. Office for Civil Rights Director Roger Severino said, “Our record year underscores the need for covered […]

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Hackers are not main cause of health data breaches

December 10, 2018

From Reuters: But the top cause of data breaches, accounting for 42 percent of cases and 472 incidents, was theft of equipment or information by unknown outsiders or by current or former employees, the study found. Source: Hackers are not main cause of health data breaches | Reuters This confirms my research. We worry about […]

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Anthem to pay $16 million to OCR in HIPAA settlement

October 30, 2018

From ADA News: Anthem has agreed to pay the Office of Civil Rights $16 million dollars to settle potential HIPAA violations after cyberattacks on the company allegedly exposed the electronic protected health information of 79 million people. This is the largest HIPAA settlement in U.S. history, according to a press release from the Department of […]

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HIPAA COW

August 2, 2018

A nice resource: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Collaborative of Wisconsin (HIPAA COW)Established in 2001, HIPAA COW is a non-profit organization open to entities considered to be Covered Entities, Business Associates, and/or Trading Partners under HIPAA, as well as any other organization impacted by HIPAA regulations.Learn more about our upcoming conferences and events HIPAA […]

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HIPAA Hackers and Hype Webinar July 12

June 25, 2018

Overview: HIPAA compliance consists largely of having the right forms and signatures. Learn what PHI, CE, NPP, BA and Exempt mean and why it matters.Understand the critical elements of risk assessment,the six basic steps to compliance and four critical important real world measures dentists should be taking beyond the paperwork that can make an actual […]

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Computer Use Policy

May 1, 2018

PPP (Professional Protector Plan) the dental liability insurance plan offers a sample computer use policy for their liability policy holders. You can see it here: Computer Use Policy Here is a short sample: Misuse of Clinic computers, networks, and Internet access may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. Examples of Misuse […]

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Former Receptionist Who Stole Identities of More Than 650 Dental Patients Sentenced to 2-to-6 Years in Prison

April 26, 2018

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the sentencing of ANNIE VUONG, 31, to 2-to-6 years in state prison for stealing personal identifying information from more than 650 patients at the dentist’s office where she worked. Three previously convicted co-defendants then used that information to fraudulently purchase more than $700,000 in Apple products. […]

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N.J. medical firm to pay $418K after patient records were exposed online

April 9, 2018

From NJ.com: Virtua Medical Group, a South Jersey firm with dozens of medical and surgical practices, has agreed to pay $417,816 to settle a complaint that it exposed medical records of more than 1,650 patients on the internet Source: N.J. medical firm to pay $418K after patient records were exposed online | NJ.com Another HIPAA fine. […]

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HIPAA Enforcement Highlights

March 15, 2018

From HHS.gov Since the compliance date of the Privacy Rule in April 2003, OCR has received over 173,426 HIPAA complaints and has initiated over 871 compliance reviews. We have resolved ninety-seven percent of these cases (168,780). …To date, OCR has settled or imposed a civil money penalty in 53 cases resulting in a total dollar […]

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Ransomware Defense Every Dental Practice Needs

December 11, 2017

From Dental Product Shopper: …according to this report, healthcare is the single most targeted industry because victims are most likely to pay ransoms. This is a disturbing revelation for a couple of reasons. On one hand, it indicates that healthcare businesses, dental practices included, have outdated or compromised security protections. In addition, and perhaps more egregiously, […]

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A Breakdown of the Second Largest HIPAA Fine to Date – $5.5 Million

August 31, 2017

On February 16, 2017, the Office of Civil Rights announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with Memorial Healthcare System (“MHS”) to settle potential violations of HIPAA. The settlement agreement included a robust corrective action plan and the second largest fine levied against a covered entity to date: $5.5 million. For those keeping […]

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July 3, 2017

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Hacking is only 8%

April 28, 2017

Mysterious Internet hackers from China or Russia are frightening but account for only a small percentage of reported data breaches. The office of Health and Human Services maintains an online listing of all reported medical dental data breaches in the US. This web page often referred to as “The Wall of Shame” lists every reported […]

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Dental Technology Seminar Topics

March 28, 2017

Source: Dental Technology Seminar Topics | Emmott On Technology All this and more at Technology on the Rocks

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OCR responds to ADA question about dental labs and HIPAA

March 28, 2017

From OCR through the ADA, Dental labs do NOT need to sign a BAA for HIPAA: Dental laboratories aren’t required to sign business associate agreements before dental practices share protected health information for treatment of an individual, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, because a dental laboratory meets the […]

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