The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have provided some helpful preparedness tips for medical offices and clinics to ensure their preparedness for COVID-19 and help protect your patients and healthcare workers. These best practices are critical to helping to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. Before Patients Arrive Communicate with patients. Train and prepare your...
Notification of Enforcement Discretion for Telehealth Remote Communications during the COVID-19 Nationwide Public Health Emergency The following statement was sent out by OCR regarding Telehealth Remote Communications: We are empowering medical providers to serve patients wherever they are during this national public health emergency. We are especially concerned about reaching those most at risk, including...
A recent report from Proofpoint provides insights into the most common attacks faced by healthcare organizations. To help better understand the evolving cyberthreat landscape, the report analyzed a year of cyberattacks against healthcare providers, pharmaceutical and life sciences organizations, and health insurers between 2018-2019. One key trend noted throughout the report suggests that today’s cyberattacks...
On January 28, 2020, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a notice regarding legislative modifications made to the HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule of 2013. The announcement was about a final rule published by HHS on January 25, 2013, entitled “Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Enforcement Rules Under the Health Information Technology for...
In light of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is providing this bulletin to ensure that HIPAA covered entities and their business associates are aware of the ways that patient information may be shared under the HIPAA Privacy Rule in...
The US Department of Health and Human Services just released an emergency directive to notify the Health and Public Health Sector of significant vulnerabilities identified in the Microsoft Windows Operating Systems. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has determined the weaknesses pose an unacceptable threat to the Federal enterprise and require immediate action. They...
Cyberterrorism is on the rise, and this includes phishing attacks. According to a recent report from Verizon, 90% of all data breaches are linked to phishing attacks. With the average cost of a successful phishing attack for a medium-sized business totalling $1.6 million, it is critical to ensure employees are educated on how to identify...
As the holiday season draws near, MedSafe urges healthcare organizations and employees to be aware of online scams. Phishing attacks are on the rise with the highest rates since 2016, according to the Phishing Activity Trends Report. What is Phishing? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines phishing as a type of fraudulent communication that targets...
Is texting HIPAA compliant? The answer to this question is not as simple as it may seem. With more and more medical professionals relying on their personal mobile devices for communication, texting has become a significant challenge for healthcare organizations nationwide. Whether or not texting is HIPAA compliant largely depends upon what is texted, who...
HIPAA Breaches can cost healthcare organizations millions. Healthcare data breaches typically cost more than data breaches in any other industry. In fact, the average cost of a healthcare data breach in the United States is $15 million. The 2018 Cost of a Data Breach Report from IBM and Ponemon Institute found that the average healthcare...
