Performing your Annual HIPAA Security Risk Assessment
Written by C. J. Wolf
HIPAA enforcement, entrusted primarily with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the US Health and Human Services (HHS), has been on a consistent rise of late. At the root of most noncompliance issues is, as the OCR says, failure on the part of Covered Entities and their Business Associates to perform an adequate HIPAA Security Risk Analysis. The onus of performing a HIPAA Security Risk Analysis is higher for healthcare organizations that participated in Meaningful Use or MACRA (The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015): such organizations need to certify performance of a HIPAA Security Risk Analysis annually.
This is not to suggest that organizations that do not participant in these programs are exempt from carrying out a HIPAA Security Risk Analysis; they need to perform this analysis periodically too, if they are required to comply with HIPAA.
All about HIPAA Risk Assessmentr
This online HIPAA training course is aimed at imparting knowledge of how Covered Entities and their Business Associates can undertake the required HIPAA Risk Assessment. This HIPAA training is aimed at helping participants understand all about this exercise of critical importance to them. The learning gained at this online HIPAA training course will offer them some kind of security assessment checklist that will help them in enormous ways in their HIPAA Risk Assessment,
The importance of getting their HIPAA risk assessment right can never be underestimated: the preliminary results that emerged out of the OCR’s Phase 2, nation-wide, HIPAA audits, which it made public in September of 2017, were shocking, to say the least:
Six out of seven audited entities earned the dubious grade of “inadequate” or “failure” on their performance pertaining to information security Risk Analysis. If this was bad, the percentage of those who got the same grade for their efforts of establishing or maintaining an information security risk management plan was worse, at 94%.
One of the starkest examples that can be quoted is that of Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA): this organization was slapped a whopping $3.5 million settlement. The reason: its inability to comply with HIPAA’s risk analysis and risk management rules. The tough words that OCR Director Roger Severino had on this occasion drives home the utter criticality of performing a HIPAA Security Risk Analysis.
This is what he had to say: “The number of breaches, involving a variety of locations and vulnerabilities, highlights why there is no substitute for an enterprise-wide risk analysis for a covered entity. Covered entities must take a thorough look at their internal policies and procedures to ensure they are protecting their patients' health information in accordance with the law.”
It is in the backdrop of such severity relating to noncompliance with HIPAA risk assessment that Traininng.com is organizing this online HIPAA training course. At this HIPAA training, Dr. Wolf will give complete understanding of these vital aspects of HIPAA enforcement.
He will explain the recent enforcement and fines resulting from HIPAA Security Risk Analysis failures and point to where future enforcement is headed. He will detail HIPAA Security Risk Analysis requirements, show how to perform a HIPAA Security Risk Analysis, and will remediate findings from the Risk Analysis.
This online HIPAA training course is suited for:
o Any Healthcare Organization that is required to follow HIPAA
o Physician Practices Participating in MACRA
o Hospitals and Organizations that Accepted Government Financial Incentives to Implement Electronic Health Records
o Compliance Officer
o HIPAA Privacy and Security Officers.
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Article author
About the Author
Dr. C. J. Wolf, who is currently Senior Compliance Executive at Healthcity, has been involved in healthcare for two decades now.
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