![]() ![]() Whether you’re a hospital, clinic, or business associate, you agreed to protect patient information according to the terms of HIPAA. For example, if the business associate has a closer relationship with the patient, they will typically notify the patient. The covered entity will usually notify individuals about a breach, but it depends on the situation. HIPAA requires you to tell the covered entity about the breach within 60 days of discovery, as well as provide a list of all individuals affected by the breach. If you’re a business associate of a covered entity, you must tell the covered entity about any breaches that happen in your systems. For example, a national health system would need to submit press releases in both Texas and Indiana if it had breaches of 500+ records in those states. The media: You only need to notify the local media if a breach affected 500 people in a specific state or jurisdiction.If it affected fewer than 500 people, you need to notify the HHS within 60 days of the end of the calendar year when the breach occurred. HHS: If the breach involved over 500 patients, you must report it to the HHS within 60 days of discovering it.If the breach affected over 10 people, you must also post a notice about it on your website for 90 days or notify a prominent media outlet in your area about the breach. HIPAA requires you to send a printed letter to their last known address. Individuals: Whether it’s one patient or 1,000, you must notify all affected patients about a breach no later than 60 days after discovering the breach.If you experienced a breach, the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule requires you to notify individual patients, the HHS, and sometimes the media. Regardless of whether you think you experienced a breach, the HHS OCR will still ask you for a risk assessment proving there was no tangible harm. Your organization took the appropriate steps to mitigate the breach immediately after it was discovered.The unauthorized access came back to a person in your business, not an outside attacker.The breach didn’t include identifying information about a patient.If someone accessed unencrypted information but you still believe it doesn’t qualify as a breach, it needs to pass this four-factor test to prove there was no harm: For example, if someone tried to steal encrypted information and didn’t have access to a decryption key, it likely won’t count as a breach, per the HIPAA Breach Safe Harbor Policy. If you believe there wasn’t any actual harm done during the breach, you’ll need to prove it. Next, you’ll need to analyze the breach and gather evidence by conducting a PHI breach risk assessment. This stops the source of the breach, which will protect patients (and your business) from further harm. For example, if a hacker broke in and stole patient data through an unsecured IoT device, you need to secure that device. Mitigate the Breachįirst things first, you’ll need to take immediate action to mitigate the breach. However, once you experience a breach, you’ll need to mitigate the breach, gather evidence, and notify certain parties. Sanction employees who break your policies.If you’re a covered entity under HIPAA, you need to meet administrative requirements long before there’s a breach. They can also identify threat trends in healthcare, which the HHS uses to recommend PHI cybersecurity best practices moving forward. The HHS OCR keeps track of these incidents to manage providers’ security compliance. This way, healthcare providers can’t conceal breaches, which could put patients at serious risk. The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule ensures patients, the HHS, and the public are aware of major data breaches. PHI security breaches can devastate patients, so providers should take every breach seriously. What is the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule? Here’s everything providers and business associates need to know about their responsibilities for PHI breach reporting. Failing to follow the Breach Notification Rule can put your organization at risk of bigger penalties and fines, so it’s critical to understand the steps required for breach notifications. ![]() ![]() The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule requires healthcare providers and their vendors to notify patients, the HHS, and sometimes the media when there’s a serious breach of protected health information ( PHI) or electronic protected health information (ePHI). Whether your organization is a covered entity or a business associate, you must follow HIPAA’s strict breach notification rules and regulations to stay compliant. ![]()
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