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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Patients and physicians who have the diabetes apps/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 as a security measure. The app is not secure and not sufficiently protecting usernames and passwords making their data vulnerable to exposure/hacking. […]
OSHA: What should we know about the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant? The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant is a mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and it has been reported in 77 countries including the United States and in the United Kingdom. Of the 3 variant classifications, the Delta variant is considered a variant of concern (VOC) because it […]
It is hard going a day without seeing a cybersecurity attack in the headlines. Over the past year and a half, the number of attacks has increased by over 350%. Healthcare entities of all sizes are an enticing target for attackers because just 1 patient record can fetch $200 or more on the dark web. […]
