Posts Tagged ‘business associate agreements’
OCR Fact Sheet Clarifies BA Liability Under HIPAA
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights recently issued a new fact sheet on the Direct Liability of Business Associates under HIPAA. The release of the fact sheet immediately followed a settlement agreement with a business associate relating to a data breach that occurred in 2015 when hackers used a…
Read MoreHospital Fails to Terminate Former Employee’s Access to HIPAA-Protected Data
A recent HIPAA enforcement action should serve as a reminder to healthcare organizations of the need to terminate an employee’s access to patients’ electronic protected health information (ePHI) immediately after that employee leaves the organization. The most recent action – the third within a month – involved Pagosa Springs Medical Center in Colorado. The critical…
Read MoreFailure to Have Business Associates Agreement in Place Proves Costly
A medical group practice based in Lakeland, Fla. must pay $500,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations and adopt a substantial corrective action plan after a data breach that could have affected more than 9,000 patients was discovered. According to the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, between November…
Read MoreDumpster Diver Demonstrates Importance of Proper Medical Record Storage and Disposal
Just because a business closes its doors, it doesn’t mean that it no longer is obligated to safeguard patients’ protected health information (PHI), as one company recently learned. Earlier this month, the receiver appointed to liquidate the assets of Filefax, Inc. agreed to pay $100,000 out of the receivership estate to settle potential HIPAA violations.…
Read MoreWhy You Need a HIPAA-Compliant Business Associate Agreement
The recent announcement by The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that it agreed to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with The Center for Children’s Digestive Health (CCDH) should serve as a lesson to other healthcare organizations about the need to obtain signed,…
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