Why is HIPAA so scary?

Rita nonchalantly browsed through the directories on the network drive. This was her second day as a temporary employee at a small therapist office. She was bored. She selected the network drive and glanced through the directory structure. The directory called “transcriptions” caught her eye. She double-clicked to reveal a long list of names.

Like most therapists, the two at this office had their notes transcribed to Word documents. Rita saw a name that she recognized. She double-clicked on that directory. It was indeed a friend of hers, and she read the gory details of a dysfunctional family, sexual abuse and mental illness. Rita thought this was so interesting that she e-mailed it to a friend. The friend, Abby, agreed that it was interesting indeed, in fact, so interesting that she put it on her blog.

Word of the posting on the blog flashed through the patient's friends and family. She was humiliated. However, the thought that she would soon own all the property of the therapist was some consolation. Because HIPAA is a federal law, the therapist would not only have to deal with the ramifications of the lawsuit but also the scrutiny and punishment of the federal government. This was a clear and severe HIPAA violation.

Is your practice HIPAA complaint? How do you know? Is your IT person an expert at HIPAA?

The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has given us good reason to be concerned. Medical practices, law firms that deal with malpractice or insurance claims, and insurance companies commonly need to deal with not only network security best practices but also with HIPAA compliance which goes far beyond normal network security measures. This is especially true if personal identifiable information is being transmitted digitally. There are strict and complex requirements for the transmission and storage of medical related data at remote sites.

Macro Network Solutions can provide you with expert advice in the area of HIPAA compliance as it relates to Data Storage, Data Transmission and Data Protection.