CommonSpirit hospitals reported IT issues on October 3rd with a response that included taking systems offline, including their electronic medical records. CommonSpirit has 140 hospitals in 21 states.
According to Healthcaredive.com, based on website information, hospitals in seven states have been impacted. Scheduling issues and procedure delays have been reported.
Systems being restored. On November 9, CommonSpirit announced that it continued to “work diligently to bring systems online and restore functionality as quickly and safely as possible, including electronic health records….” We know that, after the attack, many clinicians were unable to access medical records, and patient access to the MyChart portal was impacted.
Why it matters: There are no details on whether there has been a data breach of PHI – CommonSpirit says a forensic investigation is ongoing. But the news reports provide a clear picture of the operational impact that occurs in response to a ransomware attack – IT systems and applications have to be taken down to contain the impact or spread of the attack.
Security risk analysis and business continuity planning. A business continuity plan prepares your organization to respond quickly with temporary procedures and measures to continue key operational tasks and get systems back online as quickly as possible.
What to do: Identify and prioritize tasks that include but are not limited to electronic medical records (scheduling, documentation, orders, medications, and communication), communication, payroll, billing, collections, and food and supply ordering.
Every critical task must be reviewed to minimize patient risk. For example: a new medication order. What steps are now needed to get a new medication order from the physician to the bedside? Will human runners be needed? How and who will review, transcribe, and double check orders to prevent errors?
Email – don’t under estimate its impact. Business continuity takes a hit when email is inaccessible. Is your inbox your de facto “to do” list? Imagine how you are going to be able to tackle routine tasks without access to your inbox. Don’t overlook other email folders, as well as the inability to communicate by email for at least a couple of weeks if not longer….
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Topics: HIPAA, security, compliance
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Compliance Culture Lessons from the Headlines
November 9, 2022
90 minutes
1.8 CCB CEUs
Boeing. Theranos. The Challenger space shuttle.
Every compliance program needs policies, training, reporting, leadership and audits to succeed – but it’s not enough. Federal guidance makes clear that an effective compliance program requires a strong culture to support it. Practical experience also teaches us that culture will make or break a compliance program.
We will walk through proven strategies you can take at the employee, management and board levels to cultivate a compliance culture that takes your company in a direction of employee trust, internal reporting, audits with integrity, and compliance strength.
The Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® has approved these events for up to 1.8 and 1.2 Respectively/ live CCB CEUs based on a 50-minute hour, each. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor.”
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Topics: Training and Education, HIPAA, compliance
A whistleblower complaint by a hospice employee led to a
$5.59 million settlement. Allegations include:
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Topics: Compliance Basics, Penalties and Enforcement, false claims, hospice
Sign up for MPA's FREE Compliance & HIPAA webinars:
All webinars start at 11:00 a.m. CST and are presented by Margaret Scavotto and Scott Gima
Top Privacy and Security Risks that Can Lead to HIPAA Violations
October 19, 2022
60 minutes
1.2 CCB CEUs
HIPAA breaches can occur everywhere. They come from conversations, from TikTok, from hackers, and from tricky phishing emails. They come from the employee down the hall, from hackers across the country, and from overseas. Later today or tomorrow, there will be new sources of potential HIPAA breaches.
The only way to stay one step ahead is to know and understand the trends and use that knowledge to develop, update or refine your HIPAA security program to mitigate the risk in your organization. Think – Security Risk Assessment and Management Plan. We will walk through top privacy and security risks that can lead to HIPAA violations – and discuss strategies to do something about them.
Compliance Culture Lessons from the Headlines
November 9, 2022
90 minutes
1.8 CCB CEUs
Boeing. Theranos. The Challenger space shuttle.
Every compliance program needs policies, training, reporting, leadership and audits to succeed – but it’s not enough. Federal guidance makes clear that an effective compliance program requires a strong culture to support it. Practical experience also teaches us that culture will make or break a compliance program.
We will walk through proven strategies you can take at the employee, management and board levels to cultivate a compliance culture that takes your company in a direction of employee trust, internal reporting, audits with integrity, and compliance strength.
The Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® has approved these events for up to 1.8 and 1.2 Respectively/ live CCB CEUs based on a 50-minute hour, each. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor.”
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Topics: Training and Education, HIPAA, compliance
Is your HIPAA training program identifying new risks?
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Topics: Compliance Basics
Sign up for MPA's FREE Compliance & HIPAA webinars:
All webinars start at 11:00 a.m. CST and are presented by Margaret Scavotto and Scott Gima
Top Privacy and Security Risks that Can Lead to HIPAA Violations
October 19, 2022
60 minutes
1.2 CCB CEUs
HIPAA breaches can occur everywhere. They come from conversations, from TikTok, from hackers, and from tricky phishing emails. They come from the employee down the hall, from hackers across the country, and from overseas. Later today or tomorrow, there will be new sources of potential HIPAA breaches.
The only way to stay one step ahead is to know and understand the trends and use that knowledge to develop, update or refine your HIPAA security program to mitigate the risk in your organization. Think – Security Risk Assessment and Management Plan. We will walk through top privacy and security risks that can lead to HIPAA violations – and discuss strategies to do something about them.
Compliance Culture Lessons from the Headlines
November 9, 2022
90 minutes
1.8 CCB CEUs
Boeing. Theranos. The Challenger space shuttle.
Every compliance program needs policies, training, reporting, leadership and audits to succeed – but it’s not enough. Federal guidance makes clear that an effective compliance program requires a strong culture to support it. Practical experience also teaches us that culture will make or break a compliance program.
We will walk through proven strategies you can take at the employee, management and board levels to cultivate a compliance culture that takes your company in a direction of employee trust, internal reporting, audits with integrity, and compliance strength.
The Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® has approved these events for up to 1.8 and 1.2 Respectively/ live CCB CEUs based on a 50-minute hour, each. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor.”
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Topics: Training and Education, HIPAA, compliance
