HIPAA Risk Assessment
Conducting a risk assessment is the first step in identifying and implementing safeguards that allow you to comply with the standards in the Security Rule. The assessment is foundational, and must be understood in detail before your practice can make meaningful decisions that will best ePHI.
The Security Rule requires covered entities, including healthcare providers, to maintain reasonable and appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for protecting e-PHI. Specifically, covered entities must:
- Ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all e-PHI they create, receive, maintain or transmit;
- Identify and protect against reasonably anticipated threats to the security or integrity of the information;
- Protect against reasonably anticipated, impermissible uses or disclosures; and
- Ensure compliance by their workforce.
You must maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all ePHI. That is a lot of responsibility, but also one that you cannot get rid of. It is imperative that you review your policies and procedures to ensure that you are doing all you can do to protect your patient’s ePHI.
Not only are you required to protect the information, you are also required to anticipate and protect against potential threats. Sounds daunting? It should because the responsibility is great.
Do you have an IT team dedicated to anticipating these threats? Do you have a team ready to jump on potential breaches? If not, turn to our team to help ensure that you are meeting your ePHI obligations.
You must also work to ensure your workforce is properly trained to meet all of the obligations of the Security Rule. Additionally, you have to provide other training programs to meet obligations under other healthcare regulatory statutory rules.
