This HITEQ Center webinar explored key concepts and best practices that should be followed by Health Centers seeking to develop Defense in Depth and effectively implement hardened security programs at their sites. There are ever-increasing cybersecurity guidelines and protection measures that Health Centers must navigate and digest. This webinar sought to motivate and educate the health center workforce on critical privacy and security concepts and methods for defense. Aspects of Security Risk Assessment, security awareness training, and breach protection were covered with an emphasis on health center-wide information protection.

To successfully attest, providers must conduct a security risk assessment (SRA), implement updates as needed, and correctly identify security deficiencies. By conducting an SRA regularly, providers can identify and document potential threats and vulnerabilities related to data security, and develop a plan of action to mitigate them.

Since 2010, the healthcare industry has seen a remarkable increase in the use of technology in the administration and delivery in healthcare. This has led to a mass migration of data from paper charts and isolated systems to Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and interconnected systems that transmit patient health and financial information across trusted and untrusted networks. While this has been a boon for the industry in its ability to provide timely information to those who need it the most, this transition has introduced a great deal of risk to the confidentiality and integrity of the information. Coupled with the fact that the information can be quickly monetized by criminals through insurance fraud and identity theft, the ecosystem is target-rich.

Data breaches in healthcare are consistently high in terms of volume, frequency, impact, and cost. High-level breaches are increasingly occurring in a more targeted manner toward health centers. This presentation provides Health Center leadership and trainers with a template to use to build out their own organization-specific presentation on breach.

ONC hosted a webinar to launch the Health IT Privacy & Security Technology Learning Community. This learning community is exploring the ONC Security Risk Assessment (SRA) Tool. It is looking to leverage stakeholder expertise to help inform health care delivery system reform and advance the use of interoperable health IT to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare. The webinar was held on October 25 at 2pm ET.

There is not a recording available at the moment, but the link below will take users to a YouTube overview of SRA tool use.

A well-done security risk assessment (SRA) will identify security vulnerabilities across the breadth of a healthcare organization's health information systems. Factors will include policy, organizational and technical related requirements to privacy and security measures. ONC, in recognizing the complexity of this task for small to medium healthcare providers developed a toolkit to assist in conducting SRAs.

From the ONC YouTube website:

HIPAA requires practices to assess their PHI as part of their risk management process. Learn more about a risk assessment and how your practice can benefit.