Q: I am currently working on a social media usage policy for the organization where I work. I often notisce that some of my friends in the healthcare industry will post about patients on social media website.
1. Phase 2 of OCR's HIPAA audits will be desk audits, which means OCR will not conduct on-site audits of covered entities (CE) and business associates (BA) unless resources are available.
In the wake of several large breaches, OCR is ready to ramp up its oversight of HIPAA compliance as it embarks upon Phase 2 of its HIPAA privacy, security, and breach notification audits. OCR began preparing for this round of audits around the same time that news broke of the second-largest HIPAA breach in the U.S., a hacking incident that affected 4.5 million patients treated at or referred to Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, Inc.
Q: Are there any penalties for sending an unencrypted email containing PHI to the intended recipient? Would this just be a violation of the CE's policy and not a privacy breach under HITECH?
Q: I am employed by an acute care psychiatric hospital. The hospital's police department will sometimes take photographs of injuries patients have at the time of admission.
