HIPAA Privacy Rule: Patient Rights and Permitted Disclosures Explained
HIPAA Privacy Rule: Patient Rights and Permitted Disclosures Explained Quick answer: The HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR Part 160 and Subparts A and E of Part 164) sets the national standard for how covered entities and their business associates may use and disclose protected health information (PHI), and it gives patients enforceable rights over their […]
HIPAA vs State Privacy Laws: Which Rules Apply to Your Organization?
HIPAA vs State Privacy Laws: Which Rules Apply to Your Organization? The single most important thing to understand about HIPAA and state privacy law is that HIPAA is a floor, not a ceiling. It sets a national minimum standard for protecting health information, but it does not stop a state from demanding more. That is […]
HIPAA Compliance for Behavioral Health Clinics: Substance Abuse and Mental Health
HIPAA Compliance for Behavioral Health Clinics: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Quick Answer: Behavioral health providers face HIPAA’s strictest data — psychotherapy notes get heightened protection, 42 CFR Part 2 adds extra rules for substance-use records, and minor-consent and duty-to-warn situations create disclosure decisions other specialties rarely face. A Security Risk Analysis plus clear policies […]
HIPAA Security Rule Requirements: Complete Technical Safeguards Guide
HIPAA Security Rule Requirements: Complete Technical Safeguards Guide The HIPAA Security Rule governs electronic protected health information (ePHI) specifically, and it is built around three categories of safeguards: administrative, physical, and technical. What trips most organizations up is not the list of controls but the structure. Every standard is either required or addressable, and addressable […]
HIPAA for Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) 2026
HIPAA for Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) 2026 Quick Answer: HIPAA compliance for Ambulatory Surgery Centers requires Security Risk Analyses on every PHI-touching system (scheduling, anesthesia EMRs, billing, surgical-tracking), encryption at rest and in transit, multi-factor authentication for all clinical and administrative accounts, annual Business Associate verification with anesthesia and pathology partners, and tested incident-response runbooks. […]
HIPAA Compliance for IT Vendors and Managed Service Providers
HIPAA Compliance for IT Vendors and Managed Service Providers A managed service provider doesn’t have to read a single patient chart to fall squarely under HIPAA. If an MSP, break-fix shop, or IT consultant has persistent administrative access to systems that store, process, or transmit electronic PHI — servers, workstations, firewalls, backups, Microsoft 365 tenants […]
HIPAA Medical Records Storage and Retention: Requirements by State
HIPAA Medical Records Storage and Retention: Requirements by State The most common misconception about medical-record retention is that HIPAA sets the clock. It does not. What is distinct about this topic is that two different timelines get confused: HIPAA governs how long you keep your compliance documentation and how securely you store PHI, while state […]
HIPAA Violation Examples: 15 Real Cases and How to Avoid Them
HIPAA Violation Examples: 15 Common Scenarios and How to Avoid Them Quick answer: Most HIPAA violations are not sophisticated cyberattacks — they are everyday process failures: snooping in records, lost unencrypted devices, improper disposal, oversharing on social media, missing agreements, and ignored patient requests. The scenarios below are common, real-world violation patterns that mirror the […]
HIPAA Compliance for Accounting Firms Serving Healthcare Clients
HIPAA Compliance for Accounting Firms Serving Healthcare Clients When an accounting firm takes on a medical practice, hospital, or other healthcare provider as a client, it almost always ends up handling protected health information (PHI). Billing reconciliation, revenue-cycle audits, forensic accounting, and even routine bookkeeping for a clinic expose the firm to patient identifiers tied […]
What Is HIPAA Compliance? Everything Healthcare Organizations Need to Know
What Is HIPAA Compliance? Everything Healthcare Organizations Need to Know HIPAA compliance means meeting the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and the regulations that implement it. For most organizations, though, the practical question is narrower: which of HIPAA’s rules apply to us, and what do we actually have to […]