California Physician

In this digital age, identity theft has reached epidemic proportions. If your office is online, make sure that you have proper safeguards in place and that your employees are aware of some common identity theft schemes.

One such scheme is “phishing.” Identity thieves send out e-mails that appear to be from nationally known banks and other legitimate-sounding entities, asking you to verify your user names, account numbers, and access codes. Recent research reports that these types of scams fool one in 20 people, which is why the thieves keep at it. (For more information on common phishing schemes, visit http://www.phishinginfo.org.)

Phishing of course is just the tip of the security iceberg. Viruses, spyware, and other malicious software can provide a portal through which Internet criminals can steal patient health records or your personal or practice financial data.

Protecting your practice from digital invasion doesn’t just make good business sense: The HIPAA security rule requires physician offices to take appropriate steps to assure the security and confidentiality of their patients’ electronic medical records and other protected health information.

For an overview of the security rule, see ON-CALL document #1607, “HIPAA Security Rule.” ON-CALL documents are free to members at CMA's members-only website. Nonmembers can purchase ON-CALL documents from CMA's online bookstore.

Detailed information on performing a HIPAA risk analysis is included in the CMA/PrivaPlan HIPAA Privacy and Security Toolkit. The toolkit also contains all the information, forms and help you need to comply with the HIPAA privacy rules and regulations. CMA members can purchase the toolkit for $325 (nonmember price is $495). For more information on the toolkit, visit the HIPAA Help Center.

Contact: CMA’s legal information line, 415/882-5144 or legalinfo@cmanet.org.