Staying up to date with HIPAA regulations is crucial to keeping your practice and patients safe. With ever-increasing concern over personal data security, one breach is all it takes for a business to lose its patients’ trust, or worse, and breaches happen even at the most prominent tech companies. Here are the top seven HIPAA updates from 2021.

01HIPAA Safe Harbor Bill

The HIPAA Safe Harbor Bill was signed into law in January 2021. It directs HHS to incentivize healthcare entities to implement best-practice security, taking recognized security practices into account when setting fines and audits.

The law highlights recognized cybersecurity practices believed to reduce risk to patients and health systems, and implementing them allows for some leniency in fines and other action from HHS’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) after a breach. Boiled down, your practice needs a Security Risk Analysis (SRA), technical safeguards, and to meet the HIPAA Security Rule, which reduces both the risk of a breach and the penalties if one happens.

0221st Century Cures Act

Starting April 5, 2021, the 21st Century Cures Act information blocking rules took effect. The bipartisan law, administered by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), increases choice and access for patients and providers, facilitating patients’ access to their ePHI held by providers and app developers while maintaining privacy and security. It specifies eight types of clinical notes that must not be blocked and must be available to patients free of charge, and offers transparency on the cost and outcomes of care.

The law requires a thorough read, but a complete HIPAA program helps you protect patient data while staying current.

032022 HHS budget

The 2022 HHS budget, released in June 2021, increased funding for patient rights and data protection, including over $200 million in additional cybersecurity spending and $67 million for HHS and its HIPAA enforcement efforts, with plans to hire an additional 39 OCR staff. A new OCR Director, Lisa J. Pino, was also appointed in September 2021, bringing experience from New York State’s Department of Health and cybersecurity work at the Department of Homeland Security.

04HHS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

In December 2020, HHS issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) with modifications to empower patients, improve coordinated care, and reduce regulatory burdens. The roughly 350-page proposal included strengthening individuals’ rights to access their protected health information (PHI), easing disclosures in emergencies or threatening circumstances (such as COVID-19 or the opioid epidemic), and reducing administrative burdens on covered providers without compromising privacy. At the time, we expected the changes to take effect in 2022, so preparing ahead made sense.

05The increasing threat of data breaches

Healthcare is squarely in the sights of the growing number of data breaches. In 2021, the PHI of over 40 million individuals was exposed through breaches at 550 covered entities, including ransomware, phishing, accidental disclosures, and business associate incidents. Strictly following the latest HIPAA regulations is the first step in keeping your practice and patients’ information safe; otherwise you risk fines, lawsuits, and your credibility.

At Darkhorse Tech, our team is trained in dental HIPAA compliance and ready to protect your practice from penalties and hassles. See our HIPAA services for dental offices.

06HIPAA waivers extension

HHS extended the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, first declared at the onset of the pandemic, from January 16, 2022, through April 16, 2022. Its flexibilities included Medicare telehealth coverage of audiology and speech-language pathology and relaxed HIPAA requirements. Dental practices should still follow HIPAA requirements for telehealth and PHI disclosure to avoid violations once waivers are lifted.

07Patient Right of Access enforcement

Wrapping up the list: in 2021, OCR announced 25 Patient Right of Access enforcement actions, including five on a single day in December. Since the Right of Access Initiative began in 2019, $1,505,650 had been collected as of this writing. All the more reason to make sure your practice meets right of access standards.

About Darkhorse Tech

Whether you’re just starting out or a well-established organization, Darkhorse Tech has the experience and technology to help get you moving, cut costs, and streamline your operations with unlimited IT support. We help you do what you do best: provide top-notch care and service for patients, not deal with IT problems, time spent on hold with technical support, or complicated technical mishaps. Our additional security services include:

• Unlimited remote and/or on-site IT support of all your hardware and software
• Improved network performance and security
• HIPAA-compliant off-site and local backup service (Darkhorse Secure Backup)
• Managed antivirus, anti-malware, and anti-ransomware (Darkhorse Security Products)
• Compliance and security law standards
• Microsoft security patch management
• Vendor management: we will be on the phone, not your employees
• Secure, remote access to your office
• Firewall management
• Network management
• Long-term planning and budgeting

Contact us anytime to learn more about our dental-specific solutions and unlimited support packages. Read our reviews or call us today at 800.868.4504.