The HIPAA Privacy rule was aimed to protect the privacy of individually identifiable health information. Along with this the OCR also brought out the HIPAA Security Rule, which sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information. The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule requires covered entities and business associates to notify following a breach of unsecured protected health information and the confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule that protect identifiable information used to analyse patient safety events and improve patient safety.

HIPAA is a set of complex federal rules and regulations that govern how medical institutions and their business associates treat private health information. With penalties for HIPAA violations being substantially high, legal experts are analysing the impact of Connecticut Supreme Court’s ruling whether plaintiffs can sue a healthcare provider for negligence if HIPAA regulations have been violated by not protecting the privacy of patients. As per the HIPAA Security Rule, OCR has set national standards for the security of protected health information (PHI) that is created, stored, transmitted, or received electronically.

However, as methods to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI data, the HIPAA Security Rule requires medical practitioners, covered entities, business associates and consumers to implement a series of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards when working with ePHI data. The Connecticut case of Emily Byrne vs. Avery Centre for Obstetrics and Gynaecology which involved a patient who sued a healthcare clinic that released her medical records to a third party without her authorization, falls into one of 10 types of HIPAA violation. Failure to comply with HIPAA requirements leads to civil and criminal penalties that applies to both covered entities and individuals.

The covered entities and business associates should therefore take adequate steps to ensure that the patient data is safe from any sort of data breach. The HIPAA/HITECH Security and Compliance management solution, Aegify, is a continuous security monitoring and compliance management solution that is built on a framework approach and allows covered entities and business associates to gain control and improve compliance levels across HIPAA, HITECH, PCI, SOX, ISO, COBIT including country-specific regulations. Its built-in vulnerability scanning technology makes security and compliance monitoring simple and effective and is designed to facilitate both large hospitals as well as small and medium healthcare establishments and their business associates to continuously monitor security of PHI against any data breaches.

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It has been found that 92% of the breaches occur through external sources. These sources use sophisticated hacking methodologies and different types of malware to gain access to the vulnerable IT systems. Currently the criminals are targeting the payment systems, as the U.S. Secret Service has clamped down all malware activities with a strict vigil on hosting services. It has also been seen that the small business organizations and medical practitioners fall easy prey to these heinous crimes as they do not have a reliable infrastructure and proactive policies to ward off these intrusive acts.

As per the HITECH Act any incident that poses a security risk to the personal health information of 500 people or more have to be reported. Penalties in the form of expensive fines are imposed on those found guilty of violating the HITECH Compliance regulations. Thus every medical and healthcare organization has to ensure the establishment of a regularized and compact security policy throughout the entire operation leaving no opportunities for any unauthorized access.

The best way to deal with all issues related to security, compliance and risk is to invest in the automated SecureGRC SB compliance solution that has all the capabilities to deliver compelling performances and create an invincible force against any malicious attacks. These solutions are cloud based services that constantly track and monitor all activities and provide real-time information instantly. With the help of the compliance management software solution the organizations are made aware of the new and revised regulations and the security policies of the organizations are updated immediately and automatically.

Often healthcare organizations suffer losses due to employees’ negligence or due to inadequate information and training. The automated compliance solution provides a respite to the organizations by providing intelligent analytical assessments and reporting facilities that help to keep track of the compliance status. A strict authentication process is deployed that thwarts all damaging attempts. With the services offered on the cloud, any mid-sized or a small organization can easily afford this solution to use it as a remedy for reviving their declining operations. Now with a trustworthy and inexpensive healthcare compliance tool within easy reach, there is no excuse for falling into a trap and losing one’s hard-earned reputation.

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Breach reporting has become an intrinsic and important element of the HITECH Compliance regulations. All data breaches crossing over 500, are required to be reported to the HHS within 60 days, while data breaches under 500 can be submitted annually. These breaches although not published by the HHS, they are compiled and sent to congressional committees as per the HITECH stipulations. With data breaches resulting in not just penalties but also the erosion of precious reputation and image of different health care providers, it is time that health care providers take efficient compliance measures to abide as per HIPAA and HITECH regulations effectively.

The idea is to work smartly and bring about complete visibility with an effective and economical security solution as far as safeguarding of security of patient’s health information is concerned. Most small health care practitioners worry about the investment aspect involved in installing compliance solutions, but here is eGestalt’s SecureGRC SB, which is an ideal solution especially for small medical practices. A one-stop solution, it allows health care providers to abide as per the compliance regulations of HIPAA/HITECH.

A web-based solution, SecureGRC SB offers a unique approach to tackle security and data breach issues. Owing to its ability to deliver services on the cloud, it can capture information and keep you updated constantly in case of any changes in regulatory policies. SecureGRC SB is an economical, easy to use web based solution that can help small medical practitioners be HIPAA Compliant. It is high time that small healthcare practices opt for a suitable compliance healthcare solution to tackle data breaches intelligently and make data breaches a thing of the past.

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Reports of renowned organizations being subjected to steep penalties due to HIPAA violation are becoming regular. These reports have already started creating negative impressions directed at healthcare organizations, and giving patients an opinionated view. The increase in the penalty amount from $25,000 to $1.5 million as per the HITECH Act proves the significance of enforcing stringent measures for patients’ data protection. Yet organizations fail to convey the message effectively to their employees inviting trouble and criticism.

It is time healthcare organizations and providers took impacting decisions to fulfill their responsibilities. If the well-known organizations are capable of such negligence – willful or otherwise, jeopardizing the lives of their patients, then there is very little hope that small medical practices would not falter on this account. In any case it is the lives of the patients that are at stake.

Healthcare organizations need a proactive compliance strategy that can provide compelling solutions to all security related risks. SecureGRC SB is a wise and affordable option that can help organizations deal with all their existing compliance drawbacks. The solutions are cloud-based with real-time information and updates that help keep organizations on their toes.

With SecureGRC SB, the processes are automated, simplified and easily manageable. There is zero confusion and no complications involved in the execution of the process thus helping drive compliance smoothly and efficiently. With its commendable tracking and monitoring system it can effectively curb all propensities to overlook any regulations.

This solution is best suited for small medical practices as it keeps them in sync with HIPAA and HITECH regulations. It also ensures that the regulations relevant to business associates are up to date and concurrent with HITECH Compliance standards. It is only when organizations demonstrate a responsible healthcare compliance attitude towards their patients that they can expect a positive trend for mending and uplifting their battered reputation. With SecureGRC SB we can expect that trend soon, thus providing organizations relief from penalties and assuring patients sanctity of personal information.

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As per a recent study conducted by Redspin – the leading service provider of HIPAA risk analysis and IT security Compliance, between August 2009 and December 2010 6 million people have been affected due to security breaches. The number accounts for only those security breaches reported to the Department of Health and Human Services, which means that the actual number may have exceeded 6 million.

It is an alarming fact that despite efforts to tighten security measures, medical organizations especially the small practices are constantly a soft target for various kinds of illegitimate activities. And this is not just because of hackers who use sophisticated technology to disarm the security system, but also due to loss and theft of mobile devices which have become predominantly a regular practice.

The freedom to use USBs, cell phones, laptops etc to keep pace with the competitive world has made the employees and organizations overlook the discreet use of such confidential data and its dire consequences. Business Associates have been identified as another vulnerable link resulting in security breaches.

The small medical practices are consistently faltering in being compliant with the HIPAA/HITECH regulations as they are incapable of stretching their budgets to employ new infrastructure and deploy solutions to curb all malpractices.

SecureGRC SB is a one-stop solution for all security and risk assessment needs without any additional costs for a new infrastructure. This service is provided on the cloud which therefore fulfills all HIPAA / HITECH compliance requirements pertaining to small business. Small businesses are provided with complete control to gauge the requirements for HIPAA and HITECH through a simple self assessment menu.

The SecureGRC SB contains a central repository for all documentation purposes pertaining to HIPAA. It sends reminders to ensure compliance regulations are maintained. It follows an automatic updating schedule as per the latest and revised regulations. It provides reports regarding the compliance status for auditing. The solution ensures maintenance of a track record of the business associates and provides plug-ins in case of any PCI-DSS compliance requirement.

Small businesses can neither afford expensive solutions nor penalties for non-compliance. They need to adopt an astute approach towards IT healthcare compliance to achieve high scores. SecureGRC SB is the perfect solution – an affordable, precise and simplified option with guaranteed results.

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