A massive ransomware attack against dental offices strikes again, for the second time in five months. In late November, a ransomware attack of a third party technology company infected and locked the software systems of approximately 100 dental offices that use…
On October 30, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology posted a blog about how to effectively use its free online security risk assessment tool for security of…
The American Dental Association (ADA) will host two webinars on National Provider Identifier (NPI) enumeration on November 15th and November 22nd. According to the ADA’s website, the webinar will aim to answer the most common questions about NPI enumeration. After completing this webinar, participants…
The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is promoting October as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month! According to NCSA, we all must take responsibility, individuals and businesses alike, to take action to make sure that our online lives are kept safe and…
According to U.S. News and World Report, in April 2018, a dental receptionist was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison for stealing over 600 patients’ protected health information (PHI). The woman stole patients’ names, addresses, dates of birth,…
Navigating the requirements under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) can often be confusing and overwhelming. Many times, in order to ensure compliance, healthcare providers are more protective of information than necessary. While being more diligent is…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released new online educational resources to help healthcare entities covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to respond to a cyber-related security attack. The…
Dentists are required to post in the office, and distribute to each patient no later than the first appointment date, a Notice of Privacy Practices, which is a formal, written document summarizing the legal duties of the dental practice to…
On February 1, 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) civil penalty of $3.2 million against Children’s Medical Center of Dallas based on its breach of…
On November 28 and November 30, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of for Civil Rights in Action (OCR) released multiple alerts warning HIPAA-covered entities and their business associates about a phishing email claiming to…
