The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which provides oversight of other government entities, released a report in September 2015, OCR Should Strengthen Its Followup of Breaches of Patient Health Information Reported by Covered Entities, that included recommendations on how the entity charged with administering the HIPAA privacy and security rules should improve.
The healthcare industry uses email every day to store, distribute, and discuss critical information. Email has become a vital tool for communication supporting clinical and business operations. It has become one of the largest repositories of confidential files within any organization. Email can represent a significant risk due to lack of protection of its contents. Lack of encryption, misrouting of sensitive patient information, and hitting "reply" without ensuring the message is encrypted and directed to the correct email address will result in a violation of the minimum necessary standard. For those looking for viable solutions to provide greater protection of the sensitive information contained in email, Absio is well worth a look.
Ah. Breathe a sigh of relief, Mr. and Mrs. HIPAA privacy and security officer. Another year is winding down, and your facility hasn't suffered a major breach of patient information.
