Don’t Let HIPAA Noncompliance Sink Your Business
In 2018, the U.S. Office of Civil Right experienced a record year for HIPAA enforcement activity. The OCR settled 10 cases and secured one judgment, together totaling $28.7 million. This total surpassed the previous record of $23.5 million from 2016 by 22 percent. The office also achieved the single largest individual HIPAA settlement in history of $16 million with Anthem, Inc., which was three times the previous record of $5.5 million in 2016.
While 2019 may not be as lucrative for the OCR, there are still plenty of expensive settlements befalling healthcare companies this year:
- The University of Rochester Medical Center agreed to pay $3 million to settle potential violations for failure to encrypt mobile devices.
- Sentara Hospitals agreed to pay $2.175 million after its hospitals failed to notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of a breach of unsecured protected health information.
- Jackson Health Systems is on the hook for a $2.15 million civil money penalty for HIPAA violations.
- Touchstone Medical Imaging has agreed to pay $3 million to OCR to settle a breach that exposed more than 300,000 patients’ protected health information.
It’s no wonder countless healthcare companies can fall victim to a HIPAA violations. HIPAA is one of the more complex regulations to comply with. The HIPAA Privacy Rule Administrative Safeguards get into the specifics of what to include in your workforce training:
- Periodic security updates
- Procedures for guarding against, detecting and reporting malicious software
- Procedures for monitoring login attempts and reporting discrepancies
- Procedures for creating, changing and safeguarding passwords
Don’t take on HIPAA compliance on your own. No matter what side of the healthcare industry you’re on, make sure you’re compliant with HIPAA. To make sure you’re compliant, partner with 2W Tech to help protect your clients’ sensitive healthcare data. We have a Cybersecurity Compliance Program that is designed to support our clients’ compliance obligations. Call us today to get started.
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