Q: At the doctor's office where I work, patients are often friends or family members of staff. I heard in passing that my co-worker's boyfriend was coming in for an appointment later that day, when I mentioned it to the co-worker, she said she would be filing a complaint for a HIPAA violation. Is this really a HIPAA violation?
In this month's HIPAA Q&A, our expert answers questions on medical record requests, health insurance exchanges, fines when there has been no breach of PHI, and mandatory encryption.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) released a letter on February 12 in response to HHS’ request for information on modifying HIPAA rules to improve coordinated care, calling for more training and education as opposed to regulatory changes.
Q: Is it a reportable breach if an entity had the ability to send encrypted email, but an unencrypted email was sent to the correct recipient because of a computer fluke or user error?
Not only does your organization need appropriate policies and procedures in place to comply with HIPAA, you also need to make sure that staff members follow those policies and procedures. It’s not an easy task, and each organization has its own way of auditing compliance.
