Help Me With HIPAA

Cybersecurity legal requirements keep changing at the state, federal, and international level. Most of the changes are just trying to keep up with the constantly changing landscape of threats in cyberspace. Today we call in an expert, Mitzi Hill, to talk to us about those cybersecurity legal requirements. How those changes may impact your business and your privacy and security program is certainly something we don't want to lose track of in the mix. More information at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/147

We get questions from listeners on a pretty regular basis. When they come in from an email we do our best to reply with an answer. Sometimes they get backed up for us to get them on the show, however. Today we are covering some of those, in fact, we are covering 6 listener questions. HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/146

News abounds about Uber and other ride-sharing services taking people to their doctor appointments. They say they have it covered and Uber Health HIPAA compliance is solid. Today we look at what they are saying about HIPAA here and what that means to us. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/145

If cybercrime truly is the number one problem with mankind and healthcare is the number one cyber attacked industry is it because healthcare sucks at cybersecurity? For more info HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/144

If it seems like cyber issues are around every corner these days, you aren't imagining things. In episode 128 way back in November 2017, we discussed the fact that we thought there were signs of a coming cyber storm. Today we look at what is going on and see if we may actually be in the midst of that storm or is it still building. For more: HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/143

Information privacy and security requirements in various laws are coming up in legal cases more often these days. Part of that is because we have more of those type laws. Although HIPAA has been in effect for over a decade, I don't recall seeing it used in lawsuits and legal cases as frequently as I do now. Maybe I am just paying more attention but there are certainly plenty of cases in the courts today. Most are civil cases but some are even criminal cases. After hearing these you will probably know the answer to the question "Do I need a lawyer". Probably, maybe, that is a fact-specific determination. Honestly, though, the answer is you probably will if you are not taking information privacy and security seriously today. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/142

As expected, OCR has continued to announce enforcement actions in 2018. This one is a bit different than any previous resolution in that there are 5 different cases across multiple locations in a single organization. It is also important to note that all 5 of these issues data back to 2012. Almost 6 years since the first one occurred, we have the resolution agreement. HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/141

HIPAA made easy is a topic we have discussed many times before but today we are going to cover it specifically. So often we get requests for the "easiest way" to do HIPAA. This isn't something to check off a list and have it done. It is something that you do every day as part of your business. The idea that you can make HIPAA easy is similar to saying that doing all of your accounting and taxes for your business is easy. Maybe if there is one person to pay and that is you but handling your finances correctly isn't something many people find easy. Yes, the data can be gathered and entered into systems. But, do you know all the forms to complete, documents to save, follow up to do, classifications to determine, etc. It isn't easy but it is doable. So is HIPAA. For more HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/140

Cybersecurity is in the news a lot lately. Particularly a lot of news just since the beginning of the year. As usual, we review all the news looking for important things to share with our clients and listeners. There are just so many different stories to choose from this week, we decided to cover several of them in one episode. So, here are 6 cybersecurity lessons in the news. Some of them may be things you saw before but all of them were worth discussing what we should be aware of and learn from all the information coming in for 2018. For more go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/139

In December, the OCR newsletter was titled Cybersecurity While on Holiday. First, how very British of them! Second, is it just when on holiday? The same rules apply anytime you are on the road with technology and access to the internet. We see this as something you should review no matter when you plan to access information outside the office. While some think the corner coffee shop is a great work space others work in hotels and conference rooms all over town without being on holiday at all. In this episode, we review the suggestions in the newsletter but drill down a bit more into how much of this applies when you are working mobile from home or just down the street as well. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/138

At the beginning of 2017 OCR announced several settlements. Then, the settlement announcements stopped in May as their were leadership changes that continue to happen. In fact, the only reason this announcement seemed to come out was because it was included in a bankruptcy court filing earlier this month. For more go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/137

Unless you never listen to nerd-speak you have to have heard the discussion about Meltdown and Spectre over the last few weeks. It is a perfect time to talk about what patch management really means in your cybersecurity protections. We try our best to discuss it with less geek speak and more English. For more info HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/136

Here we go for another year! It is amazing that this is the third new year we have covered on HMWH. There are so many things that have happened over that time and as we head into 2018, so many things to look into our crystal ball and make 7 educated guesses about 2018. We may not be predicting the future but we both have some opinions about what we see happening out there in the world of HIPAA, privacy, and cybersecurity in the coming months. Get more at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/135

Is HIPAA compliance expensive? Or, is it short-sighted to only worry about what HIPAA compliance costs? A new report from Ponemon Institute, The True Cost of Compliance with Data Protection Regulations, looks at compliance costs across several industries and multinational organizations. The study has a lot of details as we always expect from Ponemon Institute. Read more at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/134

Each year Bojan Sabioncello, our audio engineer in Split, Croatia, puts together his blooper roll to mock us. Granted, he spends the whole year having to listen to us without a chance to respond until now. This his only chance to respond to a year's worth of our comments and screw-ups. We will be back next week with a new episode. Happy Holidays from the whole Help Me With HIPAA team!

As 2017 comes to a close, we are making our lists and checking them twice. Time to find out who we thought was more naughty than nice this year. The Naughty List 2017 discussion includes everything from big news data breaches such as Equifax and Uber down to stolen hard drives and password issues. Feel free to add your naughty list nominations in the comments. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/133

A new report on phishing was recently released titled: Data Breaches, Phishing, or Malware? Understanding the Risks of Stolen Credentials. The report of findings from a study that was done by Google, University of California, Berkeley, and the International Computer Science Institute. It was a year-long study of account hijacking, stolen credentials, phishing and malware attacks. The findings are clear that phishing is a problem in ways we may not have thought before now. In the study, the researchers followed other hacker methods used against email addresses they found on the darknet sites for sale. The search netted 12.4 million addresses that were determined to be potential victims of phishing kits out of the total 1.9 billion usernames and passwords exposed by data breaches. So, it is obvious that this isn't a tiny study over a short amount of time. For more info go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/132

Recently, we have dealt with our clients struggling with vendors in the vetting process. Particularly, tech vendors of any sort. Many vendors have written off the HIPAA compliance requirements by simply saying "We are SOC2 compliant so you don't have to worry about anything". Often that is said by sales and management folks with a great deal of confidence. After spending some time at a recent HITRUST meeting I heard just how many people shouldn't be so confident when making that statement. As with anything else the devil is in the details. What does SOC2 mean and how can you tell if that really means anything to you? Trust but verify is the key to answering that question for yourself. More info: HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/131

We are enjoying the holiday with our families. But, we didn't want to miss a chance to share time with our listeners. Today we are replaying one of our favorite episodes 8 Common HIPAA Myths.

Hard to believe another year is coming to an end. It is time to review 2017 and plan for 2018. That means it is time to make your list of 5 Things To Do Before Year's End. Just in case you need some help with that list, we made one for you! HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/130

Text messaging is often the preferred method of communication for many people today. It does have great advantages with its simplicity, instant delivery, and convenience. However, I did not mention security on that list. Text messaging is not secure by default. Yes, you can secure it but that requires apps, platforms, and planning. The bottom line is the communication method most people call text messaging is not secured enough to send and receive PHI without patient authorization to use it. For more info HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/129

Lately, there have been a lot of articles in the "nerd news" services about various problems and vulnerabilities looming on the horizon or happening right now. Usually, there are one or two in a normal week or so that really get our attention. The last few weeks though it seems a bit different. Maybe it is just noise or paranoia created to drive traffic to sites. But, sometimes it becomes overwhelming enough to take time to step back and look at the details as a whole and determine what you really are seeing here. So, today we discuss: is there a cyber storm brewing on the horizon? More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/128

Each year we have done a special scary episode for Halloween. Last year we took you on a tour of a haunted house. This year for HIPAA Horror Stories V3 we get to hear a campfire horror story. So gather around and hear how scary HIPAA mishaps can be for us all! For more info go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/127

When it comes to social media, marketing, and HIPAA things can get a little dicey. There are certainly many cases where using social media has gone awry in health care cases. However, when handled correctly, you can actually use social media, marketing, and HIPAA in a sentence without getting chills down your spine. Today, Janet Kennedy joins us for a discussion on the positive reasons you should be active on social media and the precautions you should take to make sure everything stays in a positive light. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/126

During the onboarding and termination process is where many mistakes are made that lead to security incidents and even reportable breaches. Today we discuss why they are important and the kinds of things you should consider having in yours. For more information HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/125

How do you talk to the boss about HIPAA? That is a regular question we get around here. The staff responsible for compliance gets trained and understands what needs to be done but they don't get leadership support. Over the years we have had to have those conversations many times. It is never easy but there are some key pointers to making ground with your argument and turning the tide for supporting your efforts. Today we cover a few of our ideas on how to broach the subject effectively when you need to talk to your boss about HIPAA. More details at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/124

During the NIST OCR HIPAA Security Conference we covered in the last two episodes, there was also a session on OCR Audit Updates. OCR gave an update on the information gleaned so far from the compliance desk audits that were started in 2016. Their presentation included some interesting details. Today we cover the information they shared so you can compare and contrast those details against your own program. For more details HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/123

This is the second episode covering the things David has to share from the Safeguarding Health Information conference. There are many great points he picked up. As we review them we keep coming back to the reminder that HIPAA is about patient care now. Join us as we discuss everything from ransomware requirements to security for a small practice on this episode. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/122

The annual NIST and OCR security conference has come around again. This year, David attended the conference via webcast and shares his notes on the first day of the conference. Before the conference discussion, we have to touch on the announcement from Equifax about their HUGE data breach. For more information go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/121

We recorded this episode on the day that Harvey was hitting Houston and had no idea just how bad that disaster would eventually become for those on the gulf coast. On the day we publish this episode, we are both personally involved in the evacuations and preparations in advance of Irma. She is forecast to hit Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas in the next few days. The timing for this discussion could not be more appropriate from a news perspective but this planning should have already taken place prior to this date for those in the paths of these deadly storms. As you listen to this episode, know that we had no idea just how bad things were about to become for the millions of people under the stress of these major natural disasters. Take care in your planning now if you haven't been in these areas, your turn may be next and there is no way you want to be dealing with anything similar without a plan. What do you have in your disaster recovery plans? For more info HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/120 Email us at [email protected]

Every time we discuss server security issues it opens a debate about where is the best place to keep your servers. There are three options and we are going to discuss them today. Local hosting vs data center hosting vs cloud servers under HIPAA. For more details HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/119 email us: [email protected]

What is reasonable and appropriate? The HIPAA legal reference and guidance mentions reasonable and appropriate all over the place. Many times that concept creates confusion. How do you determine what is reasonable or appropriate for any environment? More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/118

Can a doctor have Alexa in OR to play music? Is it a HIPAA violation for staff to look at their own records or is it an internal policy violation? I am a small company BA do I really have to do all of HIPAA compliance requirements? If I know my upstream BA or CE isn't following their HIPAA compliance obligations what am I legally obligated to do? Why would you make daily copies of your visitor logs? More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/117

Sometimes following the news lets you find things like security incident investigations with interesting details. But, these cases were different than most. Even better than that, we learned how can a fish tank help hackers! There were just too many parts of these stories that got my attention to pass them up. When something occurs and the investigation uncovers way more to the story than you normally see we should all learn from them. More details at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/116

Incident response plans have been a topic of our show several times. But, these days we just can't get enough of a good thing! Actually, there is a reason we are covering it in this episode. I was reviewing a Business Associate Due Diligence from a software provider. In the questionnaire, we always ask if you have a written incident response plan and trained incident response team. They responded Yes, with a comment of "we have an engineering department". More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/115

There has always been a concern from many people we work with about compliance officer personal liability. Specifically, is a compliance officer personally liable for the compliance of the company? The recent settlement agreement between the FTC and the Chief Compliance Officer of Moneygram has created interesting conversations for compliance circles. In this case, the Chief Compliance Officer of Moneygram was able to reach a settlement in the liability case against him but it included a $250,000 penalty payment and 3 years restriction on working in that industry. Yep, that is enough to make you sit up and take notice. More details at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/114

The monthly OCR Cyber Newsletter for June had some interesting points. The fact that OCR mentions multiple times and in multiple ways that they do not endorse, certify, or recommend specific technology or products should serve as their "OCR mic drop moment" on this discussion. We can dream, can't we! Today we are going to review that newsletter and how they have pointed these things out once again. Before we close out the episode we are also covering some questions and comments from listeners. Hang around for those just after the 30-minute mark. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/113

This is not another episode about preventing and responding to the NotPetya ransomware. There are countless articles about those topics. We are discussing the bigger picture today. In this episode, NotPetya, Windows, and Ransomware, we discuss what happened in the case but also what does all of this really mean in the big picture of cyber attacks. If you don't stay proactive in evaluating what the criminals may do next then you don't have a chance of being anything but reactive. In light of these recent global attacks, we have many questions. Are we experiencing a shift in the criminal's intentions or are they just bumbling around with new toys? If is it no longer just about taking our money then what is really about? If you haven't cared about protecting your data so far, how about protecting your data from becoming a pawn in the latest cyberwarfare battle? For more information go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/112

In June, the NY State Attorney General announced a settlement with CoPilot, a healthcare services company that illegally deferred notice of breach of more than 220,000 patient records. Another annual report was also just released with the latest numbers : 2017 Cost of a Data Breach Study from Ponemon Institute and IBM. Today, we are going to discuss how the two of them can help us all make better decisions where potential breaches of PHI are concerned. Breach reporting costs and decisions in 2017 are proving to be something you should understand before a crisis, not after one hits. For more info: HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/111

Mobile devices are susceptible to malware attacks, phishing, and other security vulnerabilities just the same as laptops and desktops. The systems most of us have in place are directed at managing the security for laptops and desktops, however. It is important to expand your security controls to address the growing threat that mobile devices introduce to your network and systems regularly. In most cases, it is important to have a "home base" tool that can talk to and monitor the mobile devices. That is where MDM comes into play. For most people that brings us to the question: What is MDM and why do I want it? For more: HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/110

There are countless times we have covered the "my EHR vendor handles HIPAA for me" misconception. The recent $155 million whistleblower lawsuit settlement between eClinicalWorks (eCW) and the government really brings it home how wrong you can be about EHR vendors. Meaningful Use attestations relied heavily on the vendors supplying proper information. eCW set up thousands of organizations to take a major hit based on the details in this case and it's settlement. Especially, when you take into account that eCW is one of the biggest EHR vendors out there. CIA of PHI is the objective of the entire Security Rule under HIPAA. Unreliable data created by an application is clearly a data Integrity issue. If you can't trust the data can you trust the system at all? If you have knowledge of this kind of stuff going on somewhere you should review it closely. It includes civil payments by developers and project managers not just the C-Suite folks involved. For more information: HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/109

The 5 stages of grief during a cyber attack really do follow the process of dealing with grief in those familiar 5 stages. Many don't realize that ransomware attacks aren't always just the result of someone clicking in an email and running a program. As Erie County Medical Center found out recently, ransomware attacks can come from a hacker being active in your network too. Those 5 stages of grief during a cyber attack for them and others we have seen is what we will be discussing today. We have a special guest with us for today's discussion too. David Benton with Altep is joining us. David is a super IT forensics dude. The CSI of the nerds, so to speak. He is helping us review this topic. More information at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/108

A major breach of PHI was announced by a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon's office on Jun 1. There are so many things about this case from the fact that it involved a malicious insider to how many different ways proper HIPAA policies and procedures would have stopped it, if not prevented it completely. Celebrity patients records breached in this case may make it hit home with a lot of folks who haven't worried too much about those protections until now. We have talked about insiders as a major vulnerability a lot lately and this one really makes it big news! 15,000 files with medical and personal information. Added to that are pictures including those of celebrity patients records breached without them even know the pictures existed! More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/107

OCR continued their enforcement trend for 2017 with 2 more settlements announced in May. These stand out on their own because the focus is specific disclosure of PHI instead of major breaches. A total of three patients were involved in these large settlements. This week we review what transpired and what OCR found as violations of privacy for these three patients. For more information go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/106

A wide variety of questions have come in from listeners over the last few weeks. The list is so good we have a whole episode devoted just to answering listener questions. At least one of these will likely apply to you if not several. For more information go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/105

All of those ransomware outbreaks we have been dealing with since last year were overshadowed this past week by WannaCry. This has been called called the most destructive attack ever. The most concerning part is that was how bad it was but the US wasn't hit that hard. When these kinds of things happen it is always a good idea to review what you learned from the outbreak and any necessary changes you need to make to protect you from this one happening to you. The is the topic of the day. What should we learn from WannaCry? Learn more at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/104

You may not even know about all the applications and support logins that vendors use on your applications, systems, and networks. Vendors may set up admin passwords and share them with their whole staff to support you. If they have unlimited access to the systems out there and the usernames and passwords never expire or log off automatically that is certainly not secure. How do you manage all of those? If there are things that automatically log in and run, what about those? More details at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/103

April has had three more OCR resolution announcements. That's a total of 7 cases for $14.3m in 2017 so far. When we covered resolutions recently I kept waiting for another one to come out and gave up. Then, BAM, three in a row! For more info go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/102

Are we creating a crisis of trust in healthcare? A business partner put that question out to us recently. We have already been looking at several angles to discuss the patient part in all of this breach and ransomware news. This question seems like the perfect way to approach it. Let's look at the topic and see what we think - Are we creating a crisis of trust in healthcare? For more information on this podcast and how to win $100 Amazon gift card go to HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/101

For our 100th episode we wanted to do a Top 10 list. After some thought, we landed on the Top 10 HIPAA Lessons we hope you get from our little podcast. It is hard to believe that we are publishing our 100th episodes of Help Me With HIPAA! Two years ago we started out with this little idea that has become a really exciting venture for both of us. We truly enjoy the responses and interaction from our listeners. Well, first, we are thrilled to HAVE listeners. But more importantly, we love hearing how much people learn and laugh at the same time. That combination has been our show objective since the very beginning. Another big thing we are doing with this episode is a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card if you help share and promote us with you social networks. Listen in or go to the website for more details on how to win! More info at: HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/100