Touchstone Compliance

PHI

8 Simple Physical Safeguards for Protected Health Information

It’s happened in hundreds of offices. A thirsty staff member brings a beverage to a computer workstation. Sets in down within easy reach. Logs on to the computer and turns her attention to the screen. A few minutes later, she absently reaches for the drink. Accidentally knocks it over. Gasps as the cola from her […]

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HIPAA & The Miley-Cyrus Approach to Data Disposal

Does a Miley Cyrus video with over 750 million views offer any insights into what HIPAA says about data disposal? Well, consider this: The massive wrecking ball Ms. Cyrus sits on in the video swings between cinder-block walls. And before the hit song is over, they’re reduced to rubble, destroyed beyond recognition. If it’s not

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9 Safeguards for a HIPAA Compliant Fax

Before there was widespread access to email and the Internet, fax machines in healthcare practices were a common and accepted way to expeditiously share patient information with other providers. Convenient, affordable, easy to use, it’s no wonder fax machines are still whirring in a lot of offices. Maybe even yours. But with all the regulations

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Recent Changes in the Notice of Privacy Practices: What You Need to Know

If there’s one aspect of HIPAA compliance it seems every office implements, it’s the Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) — the document that informs patients of the permitted uses and disclosures of their Protected Health Information (PHI) and also spells out their rights as patients regarding their own access to their PHI. I can vouch

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The Pluses of a Virtual Private Network for Exchanging PHI Remotely

Let me set a scene where a Virtual Private Network (VPN) would be “just what the doctor ordered.” You’re out of town at a conference of healthcare professionals in your specialty. Before you left home, a colleague asked you to consult on a paricular case. She said she would email you the patient’s test results

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Healthcare Providers: Why a Computer’s Audit Trail Is Important

I’m going to talk a little bit today about audit trails — sometimes called “audit logs” — and the vital role they can play in your ongoing efforts to keep Protected Health Information (PHI) safe, your workforce honest, and hackers at bay. What is an audit trail? According to Fundamentals of Law for Health Informatics

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The Newest Standard for Notifying Patients of a PHI Breach

Before the HIPAA Omnibus Rule went into effect last year, the standard for determining whether or not patients needed to be notified in the event of a breach of Protected Health Information (PHI) was pretty subjective.  If, for instance, a computer with PHI  of 3000+ patients was stolen from a small practice, it was the

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Is Texting PHI (Protected Health Information) Allowed by HIPAA?

The answer to that question is more complicated than a simple yes or no. “It depends,” says it best. The reason lies in the law itself. The lawmakers who crafted the HIPAA legislation went to great lengths, it seems to me, to make the mandate non-prescriptive.  HIPAA compliance doesn’t expressly require the use or avoidance

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HIPAA Risk Assessment: Lessons from General Motors

For healthcare providers who’ve been putting off doing a risk assessment and developing a mitigation plan, Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, could make a compelling case against that kind of procrastination. If ten years earlier GM had identified the ignition switch in last year’s headlines as a potentially deadly defect and taken steps

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