Our Comments For the HIPAA People (OCR) On Upcoming HIPAA Changes
Changes are coming to HIPAA’s Privacy Rule. Person Centered Tech sent some comments to make sure the OCR knows how mental health clients may be impacted.
2019 HIPAA Rule Changes
We need new HIPAA rules like we need adult chickenpox, but the OCR has started movement on changes to HIPAA’s rules that will impact mental health pros.
Group Practices: HIPAA and Independent Contractors vs. Employees
When deciding on contractors vs. employees, getting an early understanding of HIPAA’s role in this choice may be more important than you think.
Antimalware & Firewalls
If your computer touches protected health information at all, you want to make sure it is using antimalware software and a firewall. Also, at this point, let’s recognize that smartphones and tablets (e.g. iPads and Android tablets) are computers. So when we say “computer,” we mean everything that is computer-like. Antimalware Antimalware is software that […]
What is “Authentication” and Why Does it Matter for HIPAA Compliance?
When it comes to good security (and HIPAA compliance), authentication is the lesser-known cousin to encryption. Authentication is best known as passwords. It is much more than just passwords, however, and the HIPAA Security Rule standards hold it up high as a security concept of great importance.
How to Decide If a Cloud (or Other) Service Meets Your HIPAA Needs
Everyone loves apps these days, and mental health practices are no exception. One thing that remains a conundrum, however, is how to evaluate when a service is appropriate for your HIPAA needs. That’s why we created this handy-dandy guide, all with checklists and evaluation questions for you to employ.
How to Deidentify (or not) Client Info Under HIPAA
What does HIPAA consider to be “personally identifying information”? Will the deidentification techniques we learned in grad school ethics classes (e.g. using clients’ initials instead of full names) be enough for HIPAA?
Facebook May Have Collected Client Call and Text Message Records from Android Phones
Some clinicians who use Android phones for their practices may have suffered a client privacy breach to Facebook Messenger. We explain what happened and what to do about it.
Understanding HIPAA Security Policies and Procedures
HIPAA requires all practices to create security policies and procedures as part of the compliance process. What does that look like for different practices, and how is it accomplished? Therapy tech expert Roy Huggins, LPC NCC explains.
Using Encryption
If your computer touches protected health information at all, you want to make sure it is using full device encryption. Let’s recognize that smartphones and tablets (e.g. iPads and Android tablets) are computers. So when we say “computer,” we mean everything that is computer-like. Full-Device Encryption, or “FDE” FDE can actually stand for […]