Convention Issue
Southwest Dental Conference
January 30 - February 1, 2014
privacy of such information. Two of
Make plans NOW to advertise in the the most common causes
of
North Texas Dentistry data breach are loss and theft of a device gone missing, the
Convention Issue containing ePHI.
Once the device and the data it contains have
In the game of Monopoly, an unfortunate roll of the dice sometimes lands you face to face with the policeman who ushers you
directly to jail. If you haven't secured a get-out-of-jail-free card,
you're forced to spend time and energy trying to get out, while
everyone else continues to advance around the board.
tected health information which compromises the security or
covered entity is required to report the breach of their patient
data to HHS, to their patients, and also to the media if their
When it comes to HIPAA compliance, sometimes an unfortuPromote your business and services to patient pool is large enough. Unless, that is, the data on the lost
the North Texas Dental Community
nate event can lead to a breach that forces you to spend time
or stolen device has been protected by a safeguard called
and energy with most likely real-world cash) working with the – before the Southwest Dental Conference
(and perfect timing and perfect targeting
encryption.
Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to determine
Encryption is the process of using an algorithm to transform
whether you had established the right policies and procedures
plaintext information into an unreadable format that can only
for handling Electronic Patient Health Information (ePHI),
b e
accessed by someone possessing the key that was used to enable
taken the appropriate precautions to secure your ePHI, and
the encryption in the first place. Without the unique key that’s
reacted appropriately to the breach once it had occurred. If the
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created at the time of encryption, the data on the lost or stolen
HHS determines you made any mistakes along the way, you can
device will be completely unreadable.
expect additional fines and possibly additional time and effort
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to implement any changes they deem necessary to the way you
The HITECH Act issues technical guidance on the technologies
handle ePHI.
ADDED BONUS 4 BE INCLUDED IN SPECIAL BOOTH LISTING 4 DEADLINE: DECEMBER 2
and methodologies “that render protected health information
unusable, unreadable, or indecipherable to unauthorized indiToo bad there isn’t a get-out-breach-free card you could play
viduals.” The guidance specifies encryption as an action that
when it comes to those unforeseen and unintended events that
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renders ePHI unusable if it falls in to the wrong hands. ePHI
lead to a breach... or is there?
that is encrypted and whose encryption keys are properly
Section 13400(1) of the Act defines ‘‘breach’’ to mean, generally,
secured would provide a “safe harbor” to covered entities and
the unauthorized acquisition, access, use, or disclosure of pro-
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