May 11 2010

OCR draft guidelines for security risk analysis

Category: hipaa,Security Risk AssessmentDISC @ 12:42 am

US Department of Health & Human Services
Image by veeliam via Flickr

The Health & Human Services Department published draft guidance to help healthcare providers and payers figure out what is expected of them in doing a risk analysis of their protected patient health information.

The security rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that providers, payment plans and their business associates perform a risk assessment, but does not prescribe a method for doing so, according to draft guidance from HHS’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The HITECH Act directed that OCR oversee health information privacy.

Risk analysis is a technique used to identify and assess threats and vulnerabilities that may hamper the success of achieving bsuiness goals. In risk analysis determines if the security controls are appropriate compare to the risk presented by the impact of threats and vulnerabilities.

The guidance is not intended to provide a one-size-fits-all blueprint for compliance with the risk analysis requirement. Rather, it clarifies the expectations of the Department for organizations working to meet these requirements. An organization should determine the most appropriate way to achieve compliance, taking into account the characteristics of the organization and its environment.

Some of the content contained in this guidance is based on recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), OCR said

OCR guidance document explains several elements a risk analysis must incorporate, regardless of the method employed. So basically the auditor will be looking for all the elements required by the guidelines during an audit.

OCR dratf guigelines details

Information Security Risk Analysis, Tom Peltier

Tags: Business, Civil and political rights, Health care, health insurance, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Optical character recognition, Security

2 Responses to “OCR draft guidelines for security risk analysis”

  1. Nina says:

    Thanks a lot for this article. I personally find a lot of information about OCR technology on http://www.ocrworld.com. They also have a forum and you can post your questions there.

  2. Risky business says:

    […] OCR-draft-guidelines-for-security-risk-analysis […]

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