15 Use Cases for HIPAA Compliance and How Kiteworks Helps Satisfy Them
Protecting PHI With Kiteworks to Manage Data Privacy and Compliance Risks
Introduction
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) presents significant data privacy and security challenges for organizations across all industries, not just healthcare. Even if your organization does not directly handle protected health information (PHI), you likely interact with partners and vendors that do. Failing to comply with HIPAA regulations can result in substantial fines, legal liabilities, and reputational damage. This eBook examines the key HIPAA challenges facing diverse organizations and how to overcome them. The discussion includes 15 HIPAA compliance use cases and how the Kiteworks enabled Private Content Network addresses each one.
Business Associates
These are non-healthcare organizations that partner with healthcare entities and might interact with PHI. They are mandated by HIPAA to protect this information.
Reputation Impact
A breach of PHI can cause significant brand damage. The loss of trust among stakeholders and customers can have long-term consequences, affecting revenue and market position.
Legal and Financial Consequences
Apart from potential fines that can reach up to $1.5 million per year, organizations also face the burden of legal fees that can accrue while handling litigation or regulatory investigations related to HIPAA violations.
IT and Data Management
Maintaining compliance often requires investment in advanced IT solutions to secure PHI, which encompasses new software integration, personnel training, and routine data security audits.
Vendor Management
Entities must ensure that their vendors, even if they don’t directly manage PHI, comply with HIPAA, introducing another layer to vendor management.
HIPAA Communications Rules
The HIPAA Privacy Rule outlines specific requirements healthcare organizations must follow when communicating PHI electronically or otherwise. First and foremost, patient consent must be obtained to share PHI for treatment, payment, and healthcare operations purposes. Any disclosures outside of these areas require additional patient authorization. Patients also have the right to request restrictions on how their PHI is used and shared.
In addition to consent requirements, HIPAA mandates that covered entities implement physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to PHI during transmission and storage. This includes solutions such as encryption, access controls, and securing communications with credentials. Overall, organizations need to conduct assessments to identify potential risks to PHI confidentiality across their systems and workflows. They must then implement appropriate measures to mitigate any risks that are identified.
Sensitive Content Communication Risks
Various communication methods and channels carry inherent risks of unauthorized or improper disclosure of PHI. Following are some of the ways sensitive content communications pose risk.
Email. Email provides convenience but also significant risks. Messages traverse multiple servers, creating copies stored in transit that could be hacked. Account compromises through phishing expose entire email archives. Misaddressed emails may accidentally disclose PHI.
File Sharing and Collaboration. Sharing files without proper access controls can allow unauthorized individuals to access PHI. This compromises the confidentiality of data and violates HIPAA rules. Transmitting PHI without encryption makes it vulnerable to interception during transmission—which can happen when sharing files without appropriate security controls. Collaborating with third parties without verifying their HIPAA compliance can also expose PHI to entities lacking necessary security protocols.
Text Messaging. Text messaging is another common channel with interception risks. Texts can be hacked while transmitted wirelessly. They are stored on mobile devices that can be lost, stolen, or breached. Autocomplete mishaps may lead to texts sent to the wrong recipient. In addition, cloud-based messaging tools are popular but present risks if not managed carefully. Hacking could expose message archives. Misconfigured permissions may enable unauthorized access.
Fax Communications. Fax communications seem antiquated but remain prevalent in healthcare. Fax transmissions can be intercepted or routed incorrectly. There is no guarantee intended recipients receive faxes. Unattended fax documents are vulnerable to viewing.
15 HIPAA-related Compliance Use Cases and How Kiteworks Addresses Them
Sensitive Content Communication Protection and Compliance
While HIPAA originated in healthcare, its privacy and security requirements impact organizations across sectors. By implementing solutions like the Kiteworks platform, enterprises can effectively control PHI access, monitoring, encryption, and sharing to achieve comprehensive HIPAA compliance. With strong HIPAA policies and the right technology, organizations can avoid regulatory penalties and build patient trust. Further, with solutions like Kiteworks, organizations can produce comprehensive HIPAA audit log reports to demonstrate adherence with HIPAA.