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Physician Law Blog

We provide insights and analysis for physicians, nurses, chiropractors, dentists, physical therapists and other health professionals on issues impacting their practices.

Physician Law Blog
March 9, 2014

Another HIPAA Breach -  Encryption Matters

The Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights, the division responsible for investigating HIPAA breaches, has said repeatedly encryption is one of the most basic things providers and business associates can implement to protect patient information. "Pay attention to encryption," said Susan McAndrew, deputy director for health information privacy at OCR, speaking at HIMSS14 this past month, particularly for any devices that can leave the office. "We're interested in protecting the data. You may be interested in protecting the property. We want to turn this into property losses as opposed to data losses."

Physician Law Blog
February 26, 2014

HIPAA Audits – Not a Question of if, but When

Susan McAndrew, Office of Civil Rights deputy director for health information privacy spoke at the HIMSS Conference on 2/24/14. As the OCR already made known, it plans to resume its HIPAA compliance audit program this year following the Pilot HIPAA Audit program in 2012. Now, more information is available on the progress towards the start of those audits. Ms. McAndrew addressed the topic, noting that “hopefully in the coming months you’ll see actual activity that will start the audit process.”