The Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA) of 1996 was established to help protect patient privacy by requiring healthcare organizations and its trading parties to protect sensitive information- including how these data are being shared and used. Also due to the rising occurrence of cyber-attacks, HIPAA has a set of benchmarks that healthcare organizations must adhere to to assess and implement in their cyber defenses.
Patient health data are highly sensitive and sought out by cybercriminals. Because medical records are rich in information, they can be exploited in many different ways such as identity theft, medical identity theft, and even tax frauds. Stolen medical data can sell 10 to 20 times higher than credit cards in black markets like the Darkweb. According to a report, stolen Medicare numbers are sold up to $500 each.
Five HIPAA Violation Cases And What You Can Learn From Them
HIPAA Violation on Facebook
A 24-year-old medical technician was fired for posting about a patient on Facebook. The former deceased patient died in an accident, so the employee made remarks using the words “Should have worn her seatbelt...”. While the comment itself looks public-spirited and innocent, she disclosed the PHI of the patient. Even though the hospital did not want to make any comments the employee said the hospital fired her because she violated HIPAA by posting information on social media.
WellPoint Inc. settles HIPAA violation by paying $1.7 million
After updating an internet-based database containing ePHI, the managed care company exposed more than 600,000 records over the internet. WellPoint had no idea about the breach until they received a notification from a lawsuit that their data is available through a web portal.
Incidents like this can easily be avoided if WellPoint:
- Evaluated the technical changes resulting from software upgrades before rolling out.
- Authenticated and limit the number of users who can access the data by implementing technology, policy, and procedures. For example, using a HIPAA Compliance Management software or application.
Termination of employees and doctors in the Britney Spears HIPAA case
Six employees and thirteen doctors at UCLA medical center were fired because they peeked at Britney Spears’ medical records after her psychiatric hospitalization. The temptation to resist was just too great. Many of the employees who snooped into the PHI were non-therapeutic support staff without any legitimate medical rights. The comparable nature of HIPAA violation can be avoided by a key IT concept called the Principle of Least Privilege. The principle focuses on allowing data to be accessed by those employees with Live Chat Agents only who actually need it to perform their tasks.
Violation of HIPAA by submitting patient bills
The story involves a committed patient privacy advocate Dr. Barry Helfman, president-elect of the American Group Psychotherapy Association. According to the case files, Dr. Helfmann’s employees regularly passed patients due to bills to a collections firm. Protected information like CPT codes is included in the bills which in turn can give out the patients’ diagnoses. As a result, Helfmann’s license was in danger of revocation by the State of New Jersey. When firms pass patient bills to collection firms, it is crucial to exclude all patients' medical information.
St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center HIPAA security case
The medical center exposed and compromised the ePHI of nearly 500 people. The settlement developed from two events, one where an employee used a cloud-based file-sharing application. The medical center did not evaluate the risks of this application before using it. For example, If they had a HIPAA Compliance Management software equipped, which can evaluate the potential risks of action then the problem could have been averted. Nevertheless, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center had to pay $218,400 in settlement.
Want to make sure you stay HIPAA Compliant?
More often, HIPAA violations originate from a poor understanding of HIPAA’s laws but not from malevolent intent. Several hospitals have taken adequate measures to prevent medical identity thefts, however involuntarily sometimes fail to comply with HIPAA’s rules and regulations.
That is why this robust application called HIPAA Ready has been designed to streamline the HIPAA compliance management process by managing a digital checklist of tasks, meetings, and training information. This application is designed to make healthcare providers' lives easier by keeping all the HIPAA-related documents and information in one place.
To become a healthcare professional and get a job in healthcare itself, it’s not enough to just finish school – there are a lot of factors you need to consider before even applying to the desired position!
The medical world is just as complex as it seems, and the majority of it you’ll spend in the hospital or with patients, depending on the exact position.
Regardless of what it is, there are ground rules all medical workers and staff need to know by heart and obey, especially when it comes to delicate information.
So, here’s what healthcare workers must comply with HIPAA!
What Is HIPAA?Essentially, like at any other workplace, medical workers must follow certain rules and guidelines, especially when it comes to confidential information and respecting the medic-patient relationship.
A lot of things can happen during day-to-day medical practice, and that’s why there should be a certain “law” or mutual agreement amongst staff, that some behaviors are not acceptable!
Benefit Fund Administration requirements are always changing which is why an affordable Benefit Fund Software will help your organization.
The Benefit Fund software is easily customizable and is HIPAA complaint too.
Benefit Fund Administration requirements are always changing which is why an affordable Benefit Fund Software will help your organization.
The Benefit Fund software is easily customizable and is HIPAA complaint too.
What are the major things addressed in the HIPAA law?
HIPAA or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a set of rules and regulations to be followed by healthcare professionals to ensure that patient data is safe and secure.
When we say medical professionals, we mean all people involved in healthcare, including doctors, medical staff, software developers, accounting professionals, and many others.
It is highly essential to make sure that the patient's data is secured.
