Posts Tagged ‘ PHI ’

Protecting high-risk information in EHRs

Our guest blogger this week is Karen Barney of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). According to one recent study[i], more than 19 million health records have been compromised since August 2009.  As the health care industry moves into the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), medical breaches have become a more significant concern. These [...][ READ MORE ]

Medical and mobile: Convenience trumps security

Say goodbye to bulky manila folders. Today’s healthcare organizations are zipping through medical histories and writing prescriptions using mobile devices. But the new found convenience hasn’t been without cost – not just in implementing new systems and tools but in losing data when security measures aren’t implemented too. A recent study suggests that adopting new [...][ READ MORE ]

Responding resourcefully to medical data breaches

  It’s safe to say that healthcare data is/are under attack. Breaches of medical records increased 97% from 2010 to 2011 according to HHS data. Statistics like that lend new urgency and importance to gatherings such as the upcoming HCCA 2012 Compliance Institute. Be prepared: Does your organization observe security protocols and have controls in [...][ READ MORE ]

5 Differentiating factors of a healthcare breach

Data breaches occur in every industry, but, in healthcare, they’re a whole different ballgame. Black market prices and mobile devices drive data theft and loss. Federal regulations govern breach reporting. With breaches of medical records increasing 97% from 2010 to 2011, the medical field has been especially hard hit. Here’s a look at five factors [...][ READ MORE ]

Big data can mean big breaches

As companies accumulate vast amount of data to improve their business intelligence, the risks of data breaches accumulate accordingly.  While organizations are rapidly increasing their ability to store, process and analyze huge amount of information collected from social networks, sensors, IT systems and other sources, they’re often failing to consider that much of this data [...][ READ MORE ]

Year of the breach: 2011 in review

Several high profile events throughout the year have kept the spotlight on the issue of data exposures, especially those where millions of consumers information was obtained by malicious hackers. Although the information involved, emails and passwords, does not rise to the level of a “personal identifying information” (PII) breach, it is definitely troubling that such a large number of consumers may become targets of phishing and related attacks, which do attempt to get consumers PII.[ READ MORE ]

Data breaches – to prepare or not to prepare? The answer is simple.

All data breaches have two things in common: the need for prompt resolution and the need for a robust preparedness plan. [ READ MORE ]

Help your customers protect their PHI

Recently I addressed the importance of having plans in place to protect personal health information in light of the sharp increase in healthcare data breaches. Unfortunately, research studies are finding that incidents of fraud resulting from exposed healthcare data are on the rise.[ READ MORE ]

Do your business associates know how they will be affected by HITECH?

Just as the healthcare industry came up to speed on the regulations defined in The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health ("HITECH") Act, additional modifications are being proposed. These proposed rules focus on expanding obligations and penalties for covered entities (CEs) to now include business associates (BAs). So why is this significant? [ READ MORE ]

Warning: Medical data breaches are on the rise

According to a recent study by the Identity Theft Resource Center, data breaches in the healthcare sector are occurring at a higher rate than in other industries. The study found that of the 385 data breaches that occurred in the U.S. in the first half of 2010, 30% of those affected were healthcare providers. In comparison, data breaches reported in banking and other financial institutions for the same time period totaled 10%. What is the cause of this large discrepancy between industries?[ READ MORE ]