October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month!
TMC’s Security Scout wants you to be Cyber Savvy! Did you know? 43% of cyber-attacks target small businesses. Here’s how you can be Cyber Savvy: Use long, strong passphrases or passwords and different passwords for different programs and devices. See last month’s Advisor for password tips. Watch out for phishing emails and text messages! […]
COVID Exposure or Infection? Next Steps
Determining the next steps when a worker has symptoms or has been exposed to COVD-19 can be tricky. First let’s review the definition of exposure: Being within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. An individual can spread the infection for 48 hours […]
Happy 25th Birthday HIPAA!
A Back-to-Basics Review The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 turned 25 on August 21st. You will notice that there is no mention of information, privacy, or security in its title. So, how did we end up with the Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules? Electronic health information and the internet were just […]
It’s Your Call September 2021
OSHA: The OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) is aimed at protecting workers from the grave dangers of covid-19 hazards. However, some employers are exempt. Several offices are described below. Identify which office(s) would be exempt from the ETS. Circle all that apply. The pediatric practice provides testing and treatment for covid-19 patients screens everyone prior […]
FBI and the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have issued a ransomware awareness alert
The FBI and the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have issued a ransomware awareness alert for the upcoming holiday weekend. The FBI and CISA have observed a trend of increased attacks around U.S. holidays. Businesses are more vulnerable when there are fewer workers in the office or workers are more distracted than usual […]
OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS): Are You Exempt?
In January of 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order which directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to take action to reduce the risk that workers may contract COVID-19. As a result of that order, Federal OSHA issued the OSHA COVID-19 ETS on June 21, 2021. The OSHA COVID-19 ETS applies to employers […]
Help With HIPAA & Periodic Security Awareness Training
Introducing TMC Security Scout! Help With HIPAA & Periodic Security Awareness Training Ensuring workers have annual training that covers all the HIPAA Rules (Privacy, Breach Notification, and Security) is an essential part of a successful compliance program. Reading TMC’s monthly newsletter, The Advisor, and filing a signed copy of the last page with your training […]
It’s Your Call – August 2021
OSHA: Why did OSHA issue the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS)? OSHA determined that SARS-CoV-2 is a grave danger for workers in healthcare settings, and studies have been conducted to validate this claim. Although the General Duty Clause imposes a general duty for employers to keep a workplace free of recognized hazards, it fell short of […]
Audit Logs
August 2021 A covered entity recently discovered that a former employee had “snooped” (inappropriately accessed) over 10,000 patient records almost 4 years after the snooping began. The employee accessed the records in the EHR over a period of about 14 months. That’s over 700 records per month. The snooping went undetected until the former employee […]
Diabetes App Security Advisory from CISA
Patients and physicians who have the devices listed below and use the mylife Cloud and/or mylife Mobile Application should update to the current version of the application and update account passwords ASAP. The app is not sufficiently protecting usernames and passwords making their data vulnerable to exposure/hacking. https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ics/advisories/icsma-21-196-01 mylife website: https://www.mylife-diabetescare.com/en/products/therapy-management/mylife-digital.html mylife Diabetescare devices: Ypsomed […]