Nearly 250 million people were impacted by healthcare data breaches between 2005 and 2019. And when incidents like this happen, a HIPAA violation is typically to blame. HIPAA infractions are fairly frequent.
In truth, even a capable healthcare facility will occasionally encounter small HIPAA breach incidents. However, offences might also be quite serious. They may cause serious issues for both patients and medical clinics.
Every doctor’s office must therefore stay current with the HIPAA regulations as they change. Regulation non-compliance can be quite expensive. This is due to the fact that HIPAA violation fines can reach millions.
HIPAA compliance is not always simple, though. Numerous procedures have a chance of failing. There are several issues that are frequently ignored.
In this post, we’ll define Hipaa violations and discuss ways to prevent them. In order to assist you in predicting and identifying HIPAA violations in the future, we’ll also provide a few examples.
Most Common Hipaa voilations
The HIPAA statute has numerous rules and clauses. As stated by the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services, the combined text is actually 115 pages long.
There are numerous methods to break the HIPAA Rules, as you might certainly assume. However, some of the most typical examples of infractions are those that are listed below:
Unauthorized disclosure of PHI, or protected health information
PHI unauthorised access
Improper destruction of PHI
Not doing risk analyses when necessary
Failure to effectively manage threats to the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of patient health information
Failure to develop and use security measures to protect the privacy, accuracy, and availability of PHI
Failure to maintain or keep track of PHI access logs
Failure to get into a HIPAA-compliant business contract with suppliers before granting them access to PHI
Failure to instal and use access controls that restrict who can view PHI Failure to provide patients with copies of their PHI upon request
Failure to terminate PHI access rights when no longer required
The over disclosure of PHI for a particular task
Patient information and PHI theft due to inadequate HIPAA and security awareness training for employees
Unauthorized disclosure of PHI to people
Distribution of PHI without authorisation online or via social media
Mailing or handling PHI improperly
PHI transmission via text message
Failure to appropriately secure PHI from unwanted access through encryption
Failure to report a security breach involving a patient’s PHI to the Office for Civil Rights within 60 days of the breach’s discovery
Not keeping track of and logging compliance efforts
As you can see, there are essentially endless possibilities for HIPAA violations. Because of this, thorough planning and training are crucial. This is especially true in industries like healthcare.