HIPAA Tip for January
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has been keeping a running total of
records containing sensitive information lost in security breaches since
February 15, 2005. In less than two years that total has topped 100 million
records lost and exposed.*
If you were to tell one person this fact every second, it would take
you more three years to tell 100 million people that their data had
been lost. That’s 1/3 of the United States’ total population!
The Office of Regulatory Compliance and IT Services asks that you resolve
to take extra care of your patient and subject data. You can begin
by collecting only the minimal amount of identifiers required to perform
your job. Once
collected, always store your private and sensitive data on a centrally
managed server or your department’s server.
Only transfer data from
the server when there is a valid business need. If you need remote access,
contact your
LAN Admin or the IT Services Department directly.
The Office of Regulatory Compliance and IT Services recommends everyone
begin 2007 with a healthy personal privacy plan that includes credit monitoring
and proper data disposal procedures. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse offers
some tips for privacy at http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/Privacy-Resolutions2007.htm
* http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm
