A healthcare provider and an insurance company have recently been made to pay almost $2 million to resolve fines stemming from stolen laptops containing personal health information of patients.
The Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights fined provider Concentra Health Services more than $1.7 million and insurer QCA Health Plan Inc. $250,000 for their roles in the incidents. Neither organization was able to demonstrate HIPAA compliance.
Concentra had an unencrypted laptop stolen from a physical therapy center which contained protected health information of 870 individuals. In an investigation, the OCR concluded that Concentra failed to fix an identified lack of encryption and never explained why the laptop wasn't protected.
QCA Health Plan had a similar theft occur in which a laptop with sensitive data, which was also not encrypted, was stolen from an employee's car. Part of the agreement both groups made with the OCR includes documenting ongoing HIPAA compliance with personal security information.
Cutting down on breaches by embracing FoIP
Data breaches like these could be avoided if health providers and insurers stored patient information digitally instead of on laptops and thumb drives that are easily misplaced or stolen. Fax over IP is a good way to make the transition to digital storage and secure healthcare cloud computing.
FoIP allows healthcare organizations to fax health records and other documents to patients emails. The information is then stored in the cloud so hard copies are no longer necessary and the data can't be misplaced.
FaxCore offers FoIP services that not only make storing and distributing healthcare information safer and more convenient, but they are also HIPAA compliant.
Forty-six percent of healthcare data breaches were caused when an unencrypted device containing patient data was lost or stolen, according to Verizon's 2013 Data Breach Investigations Report. Nearly half of all healthcare breaches could be easily resolved by utilizing FoIP technology to send and store client information.
Enhance enterprise communication, collaboration and compliance efforts with a proven FoIP solution from FaxCore. Contact FaxCore today to learn more about their 'Partly-Cloudy' fax solutions.
