As of April 14, 2003, covered entities are expected to be in compliance with the HIPAA Secrecy Rule and the April 21, 2005 deadline for Safety is quickly approaching. Healthiness care providers and their attorneys are this moment left questioning where the responsibility risks lie and how to perfect mitigate these risks. Governmental Enforcement of…
Category Archives: HIPAA Enforcement
Is your medical records ever really safe?
There are so many rules that involve HIPPA. Whether you go to a doctor’s office, a hospital or in the medical facility you are given a HIPPA form that states how your medical records are confidential. Ever sense HIPPA was established. I have always wondered how safe my medical records are. Recently, I watched Michael…
Best of Niner Niner July 06
Niner Niner, a collaborative weblog network, has over 25 great blogs and this “Best Of” highlights just a few of the posts that were written by some of the Niner authors, in topics that range from High Heels, Ajax, HIPAA Privacy Regulation to gadgets, books and health. In Ajax Blog, Sreejith introduces us…
Worried About HIPAA Privacy?
While some are up in arms about the whole Rush Limbaugh Viagra privacy debacle, I am more interested in all the thefts that been going on. It seems to be a recurring story week after week. Only recently the Federal Trade Commission had their own breach, which was due to someone stealing a laptop from…
Health Care Compliance Is Seriously Lagging Behind
All of health care was supposed to be following an HIPAA law passed in 1996. The deadline was 2003 and yet in 2006 only 80% of health care is doing what they are supposed to. Even worse, the numbers were the same in 2005 which means that many can’t or won’t make the changes. Meanwhile,…
California Regional Health Information Organization Recommends Data Standards
The CalRHIO has put out a list of of recommended data standards that is needed to have everything connected through out the State of California. This map is more like a guide for California health organizations as they move into the latest technology that is needed. This map shows what the standard is at the…
Database Plan Needs to Extend HIPPA
A Congressional health subcommittee heard testimony on plans to develop a new medical information database in the United States, and experts said a new federal privacy law would be needed to expand HIPPA to cover the database, according to a story by UPI. HIPPA covers breaches of health privacy by health plans and providers, but…
Not A Lot of Teeth in HIPAA Enforcement, Research Shows
Citing lack of accountability and a reactive methodology for reporting issues, Byte And Switch reports that there’s only been a single conviction since the laws went into effect in 1996. Their article. Further, scientists are grumbling that all HIPAA does for them is overburden them with needless document wrangling and hoop-jumping, slowing down, and often…
Barbara Clark’s HIPAA Lawsuit & Investigation
A press release came across the wire recently, put out by Barbara Clark‘s people, stating: Nearly one year ago, Barbara Clark, a former Adventist nurse, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) concerning the breach of confidentiality of her medical records under HIPAA; the federal Health Insurance Portability and…
Ohio Justices to Determine whether State Law Trumps HIPAA
Here’s an interesting twist on the old federal vs. state jurisdictional dispute. First Amendment Center is reporting: COLUMBUS, Ohio — A newspaper wants to report on homes, many of them rented, where lead paint has harmed children. The city health department fears federal fines and penalties if it complies with the state’s open-records law. In…
St. Joseph Hospital Medical Records Stolen?
The privacy spot reports: According to the Houston Chronicle, Christus St. Joseph Hospital sent approximately 16,000 letters to patients informing them that a computer stolen in a burglary earlier this year may have contained some of their medical records and Social Security numbers. According to the hospital letters, the only patient files affected, to their…
New Linux HIPAA Software by Ecora
A Linux news site is reporting: Ecora has released Enterprise Auditor version 3.6 that includes its new HIPAA Report Pack, a collection of more than 150 pre-built report definitions that address the technical and administrative safeguards of the HIPAA security standard. “The manual process of preparing for a HIPAA security audit is time consuming, resource…
HIPAA Deadline Passes with Little Fanfare
Well, the deadline to complete the security requirements of HIPAA passed yesterday with little fanfare. Internet News has the scoop: “Considering everything that is involved with compliance, there are a lot of factors as to why some companies may not have completed it,” Earl Crane, a senior consultant with Foundstone Professional Services, said. Foundstone, a…
HIV Victim’s Suit Against Newspaper Continues
The Houston Chronicle is reporting: DALLAS — A state district court judge rejected a bid by an alternative weekly newspaper to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a church volunteer who said the paper reported without his permission that he was HIV-positive. The ruling Wednesday could clear the way for a trial. The judge did not…
More HIPAA Violations & Private Data Theft News
Techweb reports: Enforcement of the security regulations–like earlier HIPAA rules for privacy–will be complaint-driven, he says. Since the HIPAA privacy regulations, which identify what personal health information needs to be protected, took effect two years ago this month, there have been nearly 11,000 complaints filed to the federal government by patients and others. As of…