Have You Taken Adequate Steps to Thwart Phishing Emails? If Not, You Could Be Facing A HIPAA Breach.

Posted by donna@healthlawcenterplc.com in Aug, 2018

HIPAA 

For the second time in 2018 UnityPoint Health announced that it suffered a HIPAA data breach that could affect the medical and financial information to as many as 1.4 million patients.  That information suspected of being disclosed could include patient names, birth dates medical record numbers, medical information, insurance information, and Social Security and driver’s license numbers as well as credit card and bank account information. 

UnityPoint Health reported its first HIPAA breach in April of this year.  Both of UnityPoint Health’s HIPAA breaches were the result of phishing emails.  These attacks raise questions for health care providers and any vendors that maintain patient information.  Are employees and subcontractors adequately trained to prevent phishing attacks?  Is data security robust enough to address phishing attacks?  Do you have sufficient authentication safeguards in place?

Donna J. Craig, RN, JD of The Health Law Center assists health care providers and vendors in identifying HIPAA risks and corrective steps to address such deficiencies.

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