Home Health & Hospice Week

Are these "high-impact" vulnerabilities to protected health information identified in a recent series of HHS Office of Inspector General audits putting your HIPAA compliance at risk?

The OIG surveyed seven large hospitals for HIPAArisks, and it found 151 vulnerabilities, it says in a new report: "unencrypted laptops and portable drives containing sensitive personal health information, outdated antivirus software and patches, unsecured networks, and the failure to detect rogue devices intruding on wireless networks."

The audits "raise significant concerns about the security of electronic patient health information," the OIG says.

Remember: "Both the Social Security Act and the Security Rule require a covered entity ... to (1) ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of [PHI]; (2) protect against any reasonably anticipated threats or risks to the security or integrity of the information; and (3) protect against unauthorized uses or disclosures of the information."

Watch out: The OIG wants the HHS Office for Civil Rights to conduct more Security Rule compliance reviews, it says. The report is at http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region4/40805069.asp.