If not, you may want to familiarize yourself with the current and predicted breach trends. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, hackers have taken advantage of remote workforces and hasty switches to telehealth platforms. These trends are continuing into 2021.
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One recent breach impacted Excellus BlueCrossBlueShield, a health insurer. Excellus agreed to pay $5.1 million to settle potential HIPAA violations, after over 9.3 million people were impacted by the breach.
Excellus will also undertake a corrective action plan. The Office of Civil Rights’ (OCR) found that Excellus did not implement risk management, access controls, information system activity review and they did not have an enterprise-wide risk analysis.
Cybercrime continues to sweep through healthcare entities.
Another recent attack postponed the University of Vermont Health Network’s implementation of its electronic health record (EHR).
While the cyberattack occurred in the fall, it is still impacting the UVM Health Network. The attack went after their patient portal, rendering it unusable.
Experts say cybercrime will continue to be a problem for healthcare entities in 2021.
Make sure that your practice is protected. Ensure that your risk assessment is up to date, your employees are trained on breach readiness and response, and your cyber security is sufficient.
If you are unsure where to begin, now is the time to contact your healthcare law attorney to make sure that you are protected.
While all healthcare entities are at risk of a breach, fines from the OCR can be reduced by being compliant with regulations.
Comment below and let us know if you have experienced a breach within the last year.
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