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HHS has proposed the first major overhaul of the HIPAA Security Rule since 2013, with mandatory MFA, encryption, and annual audits on the table. Here's what's changing, what it could cost you, and how to prepare now.
Read article →Most small healthcare practices completed a HIPAA risk assessment checklist once and never again. Here's why that leaves you exposed, and what a real assessment looks like.
Read article →Many small practices assume that because their data lives "in the cloud," whether that's Google Drive, Dropbox, or a generic backup tool, it's automatically HIPAA-compliant and ready for disaster recovery. Neither…
Read article →Most small practices train new hires on HIPAA basics during onboarding and never bring it up again. HIPAA, however, requires ongoing workforce training, not a one-time session buried in a new employee's first week. As…
Read article →Hybrid and remote work arrangements have become permanent fixtures at many small healthcare practices since 2020, letting billing staff, schedulers, and even some clinical support roles work from home. That flexibility…
Read article →HIPAA gives covered entities 60 days from the discovery of a breach to notify affected patients, and in many cases the Department of Health and Human Services as well. Sixty days sounds like plenty of time, until a…
Read article →When a practice thinks about HIPAA risk, it usually pictures software, logins, and networks. It rarely pictures the copier being hauled away, the old server sitting in a closet, or the fax machine that's been replaced…
Read article →Ask a small practice who has access to their electronic health record (EHR) system, and the honest answer is often "more people than we'd like." Shared logins, generic accounts, and access that was never revoked after…
Read article →The HIPAA Security Rule lists encryption as an "addressable" specification, and that single word has caused more compliance gaps than almost any other part of the regulation. Practices read "addressable" and assume it…
Read article →Every small healthcare practice works with vendors who touch protected health information (PHI) in some way: a billing company, a cloud backup provider, an IT vendor, even the after-hours answering service. HIPAA…
Read article →Walk into almost any small healthcare practice and you'll find staff checking the schedule, replying to a patient's text, or pulling up a lab result on their personal phone. It's fast, it's convenient, and in most…
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