breaking risks in mobile devices and social networking by hipaa audit program
DESCRIPTION
HIPAA and New Technologies is to ensure organization in compliance with regulations and meeting the desires of its providers and patients. The impacts of using non-compliant technologies, Potential penalties are effectively, to increase the patient satisfaction.TRANSCRIPT
HIPAA and New Technologies - How To Use Social Media and Texting Without
Breaking the Rules
This 90-minute webinar will discuss the requirements, the risks, and the issues in using mobile devices
and social networking for patient communications. We will review policies and procedures,
documentation, major compliance areas and training to ensure they are updated to meet these new
challenges.
Description
Why Should You Attend:
Most HIPAA covered entities now face difficult choices as mobile devices such as smart phones and
tablets proliferate and become the standard for personal communications both by providers and their
patients, and social networking sites become a preferred means of communication for many. Have you
updated your information security risk analysis or policies and procedures to address the increasing
use of mobile devices and social networking for patient communications? If not, you run the risk of
breaches, rule violations, and fines in the event of mishandling of PHI using these new technologies.
With the new HIPAA random audit program now getting under way, and increases in enforcement
actions following breaches, now is the time to ensure your organization is in compliance with the
regulations and meeting the communication needs and desires of its providers and patients. You need
the proper privacy protections for health information, and the necessary documented policies and
procedures, as well as documentation of any actions taken pursuant to your policies and procedures.
Your policies and procedures will probably need major revisions to maintain compliance in areas such
as individual access of records, accounting of disclosures, and breach notification. And, of course, you
will need to train your staff in all the new policies and procedures.
The session will discuss the requirements, the risks, and the issues of the increasing use of mobile
devices and social networking for patient communications and provide a road map for how to use
them safely and effectively, to increase the quality of health care and patient satisfaction.
Areas Covered in the Seminar:
How Patients and Providers want to use texting and social networking.
How to evaluate the use of new technologies under HIPAA
Issues with using non-HIPAA designations for non-covered activities.
Using Risk Analysis to make sound compliance decisions without breaking any rules or asking
patients to yield their rights.
What needs to be in your social networking policy.
What secure alternatives there are to “regular” texting and social networking.
The impacts of using non-compliant technologies.
The importance of thorough, regular training to safe technology use.
Potential penalties for non-compliance.
Who Will Benefit:
Information Security Officers
Risk Managers
Compliance Officers
Privacy Officer
Health Information Managers
Information Technology Managers
Medical Office Managers
Chief Financial Officers
Systems Managers
Legal Counsel
Operations Directors
Medical offices, practice groups, hospitals, academic medical centers, insurers, business
associates (shredding, data storage, systems vendors, billing services, etc.)
Instructor Profile:
Jim Sheldon-Dean, is the founder and director of compliance services at Lewis Creek Systems, LLC,
a Vermont-based consulting firm founded in 1982, providing information privacy and security
regulatory compliance services to a variety of health care providers, businesses, universities, small
and large hospitals, urban and rural mental health and social service agencies, health insurance plans,
and health care business associates. He serves on the HIMSS Information Systems Security
Workgroup, has co-chaired the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange Privacy and Security
Workgroup, currently serves on the WEDI Breach Notification sub-workgroup, and is a recipient of the
2011 WEDI Award of Merit. He is a frequent speaker regarding HIPAA and information privacy and
security compliance issues at seminars and conferences, including speaking engagements at AHIMA
national and regional conventions and WEDI national conferences, and before regional HFMA chapter
meetings and state hospital associations. Sheldon-Dean has nearly 30 years of experience in policy
analysis and implementation, business process analysis, information systems and software
development. His experience includes leading the development of health care related Web sites;
award-winning, best-selling commercial utility software; and mission-critical, fault-tolerant
communications satellite control systems. In addition, he has eight years of experience doing hands-
on medical work as a Vermont certified volunteer emergency medical technician. Sheldon-Dean
received his B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Vermont and his master’s degree
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Topic Background:
It seems everyone is moving to a new smart phone and wants to use it in all the incredible ways it can
be used, including for health care purposes. New health care apps are being released all the time, and
even good old e-mail is being used more and more to communicate, by providers and patients alike.
And social network sites offer individuals new ways to relate to each other and share experiences.
Smart phones and the Internet have changed the way people communicate and introduced new risks
into the process of providing health care services. Now patients want to be able to communicate with
their health care providers, and providers want to communicate with each other using portable devices
and social networking sites, and to be able to access, send, and receive health information. But
communications using mobile devices and social networking sites has some inherent privacy and
security risks that may put providers out of compliance.
New technologies present new challenges to health care providers, as there are simultaneously new
requirements to share information with patients, and a new enforcement effort to ensure the privacy
and security of Protected Health Information (PHI). Meeting both challenges requires careful
consideration of all the regulations and technologies, as well as patient preferences and work flow.
In order to integrate the use of mobile technology and social networking into patient communications,
it is essential to perform the proper steps in an information security compliance process to evaluate
and address the risks of using the technology. This session will describe the information security
compliance process, how it works, and how it can help you decide how to integrate new technologies
into your organization in a compliant way. The process, including the use of information security risk
analysis, will be explained, and the policies needed to support the process will be described.
The process must include consideration of various patient access requirements in the HIPAA Privacy
Rule. There are new requirements to provide patients electronic access of electronically held PHI which
raise new questions of how that access will be provided and how the information will be protected
during and after access. And there has long been a HIPAA requirement for covered entities to do their
best to meet the requests of their patients for particular modes of communication, and using a mobile
device or social networking is no exception.
The stakes are high – any improper exposure of PHI may result in an official breach that must be
reported to the individual and to the US Department of Health and Human Services, at great cost and
with the potential to bring fines and other enforcement actions if a violation of rules is involved.
Likewise, complaints by a patient if they are not afforded the access they desire can bring about HHS
inquiries and enforcement actions, so it is essential to find the right balance of access and control.
HHS compliance audit activity and enforcement penalties are both increased, especially in instances of
willful neglect of compliance, if, for instance, your organization hasn't adopted the complete suite of
policies and procedures needed for compliance, or hasn’t adequately considered the impact of mobile
devices and social networking on your compliance. Given that mobile devices are a leading source of
breaches of PHI, it is essential to consider these devices and how their use affects the privacy and
security of PHI; not doing so is inviting enforcement action by HHS.