November 8, 2015

CloudCamp - The Basics of HIPAA Privacy Compliance

CloudCamp Chicago Meetup

Cloudcamp is a technology meetup in Chicago which showcases topics and ideas from presentere accross the Chicagoland area. This meetup focused on healthcare cloud issues such as privacy and health movement from wearables.

There are a ton of meetups in Chicago on technology, but few are dedicated to cloud technology. One that does examine the influences on cloud tech is CloudCamp.
CloudCamp presented a healthcare theme meetup, in which presenters displayed lightning talks on health.  Alex Connor, Lead architect at Crimson Care Management  highlighted the best of compliance concerns in his talk called  Security Sanity - what is it like in a HIPAA compliant environment.
HIPAA requires PHI - otherwise known as "protect health information” - from organizations. This means tactics such as encryption and physical security of hard drives and in emails.
Moreover, encryption efforts means having a sense of traceability is important. Traceability addresses the following questions that a HIPAA review would raise:
  • To whom does the data refers
  • Who saw the data
  • What did they see
  • When did they see it
  • From where did they see it?
To identify traceability and to maintain protocols,  annual HIPAA compliance assessment is needed.  Connor outline the basics that would support HIPAA compliance.  Thes would lead into safety best practices such as:
  • Ensure that the Information security officer attend HIPAA training, compliance,
  • Add encryption to all workstations
  • Add a Screen shield to prevent over-the-shoulder view of data
  • Lock laptops whenever you leave it - even for less than a minute
  • Set clear expectation; contextualize policy and definitions
  • Include clear definitions around warning, sanctions, and breaches
  • Stay current with current laws
  • Talk openly about breaches in the news
More is available on the slide deck, available on the Cloudcamp Slideshare page.  You will see Connor’s talk, as well as the presentations from other speakers in their entirety.


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