Under HITECH—approved as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—business associates (BA) must now comply with the HIPAA security rule, the use and disclosure provisions of the HIPAA privacy rule, and new HITECH privacy and security provisions.
Major breaches of patient information in 2009 break down into three types: snoopers, hackers, and those involving large quantities of data. Let's examine the top breach of each type and find out what facilities can do to prevent similar problems.
SenditCertified offers a unique solution: It supports the encryption of transmitted PHI that meets National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards. SenditCertified also supports other security safeguards and provides practical tools to assist in avoiding a breach of PHI, as well as related business tools.
Booz Allen Hamilton, a McLean, VA–based firm that was commissioned in 2008 by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to research medical identity theft in the United States, says all facilities can adopt the following strategies:
