When President Obama signed into law the HITECH Act as part of ARRA in February 2009, it meant a bevy of changes to the existing HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Enforcement Rules.
HHS' OCR in February began using the new fine structure mandated by HITECH and handed one of the country's most prestigious hospitals, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, a $1 million penalty for a breach violation.
Here's one trend industry observers say healthcare organizations can expect to see now and in the future: heightened patient awareness and concern about the security of their private medical data.
Organizations need to determine whether they have fully implemented the Security Rule. The HIPAA Security Rule has been around for a while, but many organizations have not implemented all of its requirements.
A group of prognosticators asked to predict what lies ahead in 2011 says the healthcare industry faces new and continuing challenges as it works to protect the security and privacy of patients' PHI.
