Publication: Dermatology Times Here’s a cautionary tale: A medical practice comes to us in a panic. It turns out the physician had received a letter from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) ordering an investigation related to a patient data breach – not his own.

Publication: Dermatology Times Back in 2013 Adult & Pediatric Dermatology of Concord, Massachusetts, was hit with a $150,000 HIPAA fine for an unencrypted thumb drive that stored more than 2,200 patient records and was stolen from a staff member’s car. Not only did the dermatology group owe the hefty sum, it joined the ranks of...

Publication: Dermatology Times The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pulls no punches when it warns healthcare providers that meaningful use audits are happening, at random, and consequences for failing the audit are costly. If a provider cannot produce documentation that fully supports its electronic health record (EHR) attestation, the CMS could recoup incentive...

Publication: Medical Practice Insider So you’ve taken all the steps to align your practice with HIPAA mandates — you’ve conducted a risk assessment, you keep regular tabs on your encryption functionality and you’ve memorized your breach disaster plan by heart.You’re ready; the problem is, your business associates may not be.

Publication: InformationWeek A Saturday night phone call gave no indication it heralded months of bureaucracy, finger pointing, expense — and the dismal realization that even the smallest healthcare provider is liable and harmed when a business associate suffers a HIPAA breach.

Publication: EMR & HIPAA Ask any medical professional about their biggest concern for protecting patient information and they will probably tell you about the threat of a random audit conducted by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). OCR is tasked with enforcing HIPAA regulations and has the ability to hand out fines up to $1.5...

Publication: Medical Practice Insider Try as they may, small practices are having a hard time running HIPAA’s gamut between compliance and security.Of course, when the source material is so dense and with technical support hard to come by, who could blame them? Certainly not Art Gross.

Publication: Physicians Practice Patients prefer it. Medicare’s meaningful use program requires it. And within a few years, health information technology analysts predict that electronic communication will be par for the course in delivering patient care. Indeed, mobile devices and Web-based technology have provided new platforms to market your practice, transmit medical records, consult with other...

Publication: Cardiovascular Business Armed robbery and drug trafficking are no longer the only crimes of choice for gangs. Instead of a gun, their newest weapon of choice is a mobile phone with Internet access. Now more sophisticated gang members are targeting medical practices and using their smart phones to steal patient records.

Publication: InformationWeek Since 2013, complaints to the Department of Health and Human Services have risen regarding Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act violations.