Editor's note: The following is adapted from the HCPro book The HIPAA Omnibus Rule: A Compliance Guide for Covered Entities and Business Associates, by Kate Borten, CISSP, CISM, president of The Marblehead Group in Marblehead, Mass. To learn more about the book, go to www.hcmarketplace.com.
Q. We are a claims repricer and maintain a secure claims department. When outside vendors, such as building maintenance people, enter the secure area, are they required to sign a logbook indicating what time and date they entered and exited the claims department?
Who would have thought that buying gas with a credit card or wearing a pacemaker could leave a person's information exposed? Yet highly sophisticated credit card skimming devices at gas stations are stealing from consumers, and healthcare organizations are concerned about the potential for malicious tampering or the theft of PHI from wireless medical devices such as pacemakers. Hidden vulnerabilities lie in everyday activities like these, and some of those vulnerabilities can expose PHI and put healthcare organizations at risk.
The HIPAA omnibus rule provides greater protection for PHI by imposing more stringent requirements and limits on a covered entity's (CE) use and disclosure of that information when it comes to functions such as marketing, sales, and fundraising.
