Mar 02 2010

HITECH Act increases HIPAA security requirements

Category: hipaaDISC @ 3:03 pm

by Marcia Savage
The health care industry was buzzing with the news: For the first time ever, a hospital was being audited for compliance with HIPAA security requirements. The audit of Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general in 2007 was surprising for hospitals, health insurers and others in an industry accustomed to a lack of enforcement of federal privacy and security requirements.

A year later, HHS took another unusual step, meting out a $100,000 fine to Seattle-based Providence Health & Services for HIPAA security and privacy violations. The organization had lost backup tapes, optical disks and laptops containing unencrypted protected health information on more than 360,000 patients.

But those enforcement actions could be small potatoes compared to what’s ahead. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law last year, earmarks about $19 billion in incentives to encourage adoption of electronic health record technology but also expands on HIPAA’s security and privacy requirements. In addition to instituting new breach notification rules and extending the rules to health care business associates, HITECH implements a new tiered system that increases civil monetary penalties for noncompliance and also allows state attorney generals to file civil actions for HIPAA violations.

“HITECH is perceived as the enforcement arm of HIPAA,” says Barry Runyon, research vice president covering health care providers at Gartner. “The stakes are higher and more people can enforce it.

“What it’s done has kind of jump started HIPAA. Health care delivery organizations’ programs languished for a while,” he adds. “When there’s no enforcement, people tend to get complacent. HITECH is making them revisit their security plans and look at their controls — essentially what they should have been doing.”

Let’s take a look at the ramifications of the HITECH Act on security and privacy in the health care industry and its impact so far.

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Tags: arra and hitech, arra hitech provisions, arra hitech security "business associate", HHS, hipaa, hipaa security, hitech act, status of arra and hitech


Nov 03 2009

Healthcare Organizations May Not Be Prepared for HITECH and Other Security Challenges

Category: hipaaDISC @ 6:22 pm

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Healthcare Organizations May Not Be Prepared for HITECH and Other Security Challenges
HIMSS News
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society releases its 2nd Annual Security Survey, sponsored by Symantec

CHICAGO (November 3, 2009) – With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act underway, healthcare organizations face new challenges to maintain privacy and security of patient health data. However, data gathered from healthcare IT and security professionals indicate that many organizations may not be ready to meet some of the HITECH components of the ARRA legislation and other security challenges, according to the results of the 2009 HIMSS Security Survey, sponsored by Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC).

While healthcare organizations recognize that patient data must be protected, the survey results show that:

  • Security budgets remain low
  • Organizations often don’t have a response plan for threats or a security breach
  • A designated Chief Security Officer or Chief Information Security Officer is not in place
  • In addition, the survey reveals that healthcare organizations are not using the current security technologies available to keep patient data safe. Respondents to this survey widely use audit logs with data from firewalls, application logs and server logs as common information sources. Yet, when analyzing the log data, only 25 percent of respondents reported electronic analysis of that data. Respondents indicate they are using firewalls and user access controls, but are not implementing all available technologies to secure data. Only 67 percent of responding organizations use encryption to secure data in transmission, and fewer than half encrypt stored data.

    “Healthcare organizations are continually looking for ways to save money,” said David Finn, health IT officer, Symantec Corp. “One of the best ways to accomplish these goals is through investing in technologies that will automate and reduce the risks of a security incident and lower the chances of a compliance issue. Although awareness about these issues is high, many providers have not yet made significant moves to the address these concerns.”

    Other key survey results include:

    Security Budget: Approximately 60 percent of respondents reported that their organization spends three percent or less of their organization’s IT budget on information security. This is consistent to the level of spending identified in the 2008 study.

    Maturity of Environment: Respondents characterized their environment at a middle rate of maturity, with an average score of 4.27 on a scale of one to seven, where one is not at all mature and seven is a high level of maturity.

    Formal Security Position: Fewer than half of respondents indicated that their organization has either a formally designated CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) or CSO (Chief Security Officer).

    Patient Data Access: Surveyed organizations most widely implement user-based and role-based controls to secure electronic patient information. Approximately half of respondents reported that their organization allows patients/surrogates to access electronic patient information. Patients/surrogates are most likely to be granted access to high level clinical information, such as diagnosis or lab results.

    Management of Security Environment: Nearly all respondents reported that their organization actively works to determine the cause/origin of security breaches. However, only half have a plan in place for responding to threats or incidents related to a security breach.

    Security Controls: Most respondents reported that they use the information generated in their risk analysis to determine which security controls should be used at their organization. About 85 percent of respondents reported that they monitor the success of these controls and two-thirds of these respondents measure the success of these controls.

    Risk Analysis: Three-quarters of surveyed organizations conduct a formal risk analysis (only half of these conduct this assessment on a yearly basis or more frequently), which has remained the same in the past year. Three-quarters of organizations that did conduct risk assessments found patient data at risk due to inadequate security controls, policies and processes. Conducting this analysis positions organizations to identify gaps in their security controls and/or policies and procedures.

    Security in a Networked Environment: Nearly all respondents reported that their organizations share patient data in electronic format. Respondents are most likely to report that they share data with state government entities. Respondents also reported that the area in which they are most likely to share data in the future is with Health Information Exchanges (HIEs)/Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs). Approximately half of these organizations (41 percent) indicated that these sharing arrangements have resulted in the use of additional security controls beyond those that were already in place at their organization. This is consistent with the data reported in the 2008 survey.

    Future Use of Security Technologies: E-mail encryption and single sign on and were most frequently identified by respondents as technologies that were not presently installed at their organization but were planned for future installation.

    Medical Identity Theft: One-third of respondents reported that their organization has had at least one known case of medical identity theft at their organization. However, only a handful of these organizations experienced direct consequences from the breach.

    “Healthcare organizations must approach all IT activities, including data security, with effective management and efficient use of their budgets, staff and technologies,” said Lisa Gallagher, HIMSS Senior Director, Privacy and Security. “IT and security professionals must recognize the need for securing patient data by using available technologies and preparing for compliance with current ARRA laws and future regulations. This complex operating environment, as well as our national goals for health IT, demands such action to ensure quality, safety and improved healthcare delivery.”

    Targeting Chief Information Officers and Chief Security Officers and other Information Technology (IT) executives, the 2009 HIMSS Security Survey focused on an assessment of 196 information technology (IT) and security professionals in the healthcare field of their own readiness for today’s risks and security challenges.

    About Symantec
    Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

    About HIMSS
    The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is a comprehensive healthcare-stakeholder membership organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., Brussels, Singapore, and other locations across the United States, HIMSS represents more than 23,000 individual members, of which 73% work in patient care delivery settings. HIMSS also includes over 380 corporate members and nearly 30 not-for-profit organizations that share our mission of transforming healthcare through the effective use of information technology and management systems. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare public policy and industry practices through its educational, professional development, and advocacy initiatives designed to promote information and management systems’ contributions to ensuring quality patient care. Visit www.himss.org for more information.

    For more information, contact:
    Joyce Lofstrom/HIMSS
    312-915-9237 – jlofstrom@himss.org

    Pamela Reese/Symantec
    424-750-7858 – pamela_reese@symantec.com

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    Tags: arra and hitech, arra hitech provisions, arra hitech security "business associate", Chief Information Security Officer, Chief security officer, Computer security, Health care, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, hipaa laws, Information Technology, Security, status of arra and hitech, Symantec


    Oct 30 2009

    HIPAA and business associate

    Category: hipaaDISC @ 10:14 pm

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    How ARRA and HITECH provisions affect HIPAA compliance
    AIS reported taht the new HITECH Act requires hospitals, providers, health plans and other HIPAA covered entities (CEs) to meet a February 2010 deadline for revising their business associate (BA) agreements. New language in BA amendments should require BAs to comply with (a) the HIPAA Security Rule,(b) new security breach notification rules and related strategies that CEs choose to implement, and (c) new privacy obligations imposed on CEs by the HITECH Act. Developing and maintaining effective BA relationships should be a top compliance priority for CEs, since privacy and security breaches often take place at the BA level and can be just as damaging to a covered entity’s reputation. With February approaching and lots of tricky questions to resolve, covered entities need a quick crash course in what their options are for designing and implementing these amendments in the next three months.

    While the HITECH Act did not come right out and say “business associate agreements must be revised,” it does stipulate that certain provisions “shall be incorporated into the business associate agreement between the business associate and the covered entity.” Among them: business associate agreements must be amended to reflect the new mandate that BAs must comply with the Security Rule, should be amended to provide the covered entity with adequate notice in the event of a security breach, and should incorporate new privacy obligations imposed on CEs by the HITECH Act

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    Tags: arra and hitech, arra hitech provisions, arra hitech security "business associate", breach of privacy, covered entities, health insurance, hipaa, hipaa privacy, hippa compliance, hitech, hitech act, hospital, privacy, SOX HIPAA, status of arra and hitech