As is our custom, each year we have a halloween-themed episode. This year we are thrilled to bring you several very real Tales From The Dark Side Of HIPAA. Thanks to our friend, Jack Rhysider from DarkNet Diaries for recording our haunting lead-in!

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Social media and PHI get the OCR spotlight in the latest settlement announced. Reading these settlement agreements provide the best guidance from OCR which is why we always take the time to get those details for you. How much have you considered about your social media policies and how your staff understands their responsibilities?

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Is there such a thing as bad luck breaches? Most of us don't expect luck to rule our world although I will always take good luck if I can get it. But when bad things happen sometimes we say it is due to a string of bad luck. Can data breaches be due to one of those strings of bad luck?

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The first patient access settlement has been announced by OCR. Director Severino mentioned they would be putting an emphasis on this issue and we now have the first enforcement come through. What should you learn from this settlement? It included some interesting corrective action requirements.

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January 14, 2020 marks the end of life for Windows 7 and Windows 2008 operating systems. Have you done your SRA to make sure you have things covered? What about home computers, should you be worried about those? In this episode we review what this end of life for Windows OS means and what you should be doing in the 4th quarter of 2019 to prepare for it.

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We always talk about the need for a culture of compliance or culture of privacy and security. Today we talk about 6 things you notice when you have built a culture of compliance. The 6 comes from 3 x 2 which means there is clearly no rhyme or reason for the selection today.

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When working on a plan for this episode I had two different sources drop some insider breach issues in my lap. When I added those to the news stories we are already following involving insider issues, it was clear the topic was meant to be. Multiple cases and reports are out — the topic I must cover is because I am reading about insider breaches everywhere around me.

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October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) and it is a perfect tool to feature security awareness with your workforce and clients. You can not beat an opportunity to run a month long awareness program that provides EVERYTHING you need for free. Today we discuss what the program includes and how to use it in your office.

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We discussed the patient rights to access medical records a few episodes ago. Since then, a new study came out that says a majority of providers are not complying with patient medical records requests. I have also gotten more questions about law firms demanding to pay only $6.50 for medical records requests. We are discussing these issues with specifics about fees for patient requests in this episode.

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When you work with outsourced IT or Managed Service Providers (MSPs) you need to vet them closely to make sure they truly do understand what HIPAA requires from your organization. Here are seven questions to ask your IT team about HIPAA.

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